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TT, 



LIFE OF HOLINESS AND USEFULNESS, 



J 



REVIVAL MISCELLANIES 



CONTAINING 



ELEVEN KEVIVAL SEKMONS, 



AND THOUGHTS ON 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION— REVIVAL PREACHING — METHODS TO PROMOTE 
REVIVALS — EFFECTS OF REYIVAL EFFORTS — REVIVALS AND THE 
TERRORS OF GOD — REVIVAL EXCITEMENTS — REVIVAL PRAYER- 
MEETINGS — DIFFICULTIES OF CONVERTS — TEMPTATION — 
INFIDELITY— AFFLICTION— BACKSLIDING — PRAYER 
—MINISTERIAL CONFLICTS, ETC. 



SELECTED FROM THE WORKS OF 

THE REV. JAMES CAUGHEY, 

THE EMINENTLY SUCCESSFUL KEVIYALIST. 

By REV. RALPH W. ALLEN AND REV. DANIEL WISE. 

FOURTH EDITION. 



BOSTON: 
FOR SALE BY J. P. MAGEE, AGENT, 

15 Washington Street. 

1852. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by 

DANIEL WISE AND E. W. ALLEN, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



Gift from 
Judge and Mrs. Isaac R. Hfft 
Nov. 17, 193! 



Printed by Geo. C. Rand, 3 Corxhilx. 



STEREOTYPED BY 

ITOBAliT & ROBBINS, 

NEW ENGLAND TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDERY, 
BOSTON. 



3 ii 5 r r i p t i n n . 



TO EVERY FRIEND OF EVANGELICAL HOLINESS 
AND OF SCRIPTURAL REVIVALS, 

[IS BOOK IS MOST AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED, 
BY THEIR SINCERE WELL-WISHERS, 
DANIEL WISE, RALPH W. ALLEN. 



PREFACE 



The large and rapid sale of the volume containing an 
account of Rev. James Caughey's extraordinary revival 
labors * having stamped it with the seal of public approbation, 
the testimonies of numerous and competent witnesses hav- 
ing satisfied us that it has been made extensively useful, 
and many persons having expressed a strong desire to see 
some of those sermons in print winch have been so remarka- 
bly blessed of God in the pulpit, we have thought fit to 
prepare and publish the present work, as a companion to the 
former. We publish it with an honest conviction that it will 
be a valuable addition to the spiritual literature of the church, 
and a means of leading many to seek a higher state of grace, 
and to engage in more intelligent and comprehensive efforts 
for the salvation of souls. 

The sermons which form the first part of this book were 
mostly taken down by British stenographers, as delivered in 
public. They give as fair a view of the character of Mr. 
Caughey's pulpit efforts as can be imparted in print. But no 
one can form any adequate conception of the effect of these dis- 

* Over ten thousand copies were sold in about a year. The plates were 
then purchased by the book agents of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
South, by whom it is now published. 
1* 



VI PREFACE. 

courses on a congregation, who has not heard them, as, burn- 
ing with intellectual and spiritual fervor, they fell from the 
lips of that devoted man of God. They are published, not as 
models either of form, style, or manner, for any man to imi- 
tate; — Mr. Caughey cannot be copied; perhaps he ought not 
to be; he is unique in almost every respect; — but we offer 
them simply as specimens of that pulpit oratory which God 
has so wondrously blessed. Not that they are without merit 
as compositions. They do contain many fine, not to say sub- 
lime, passages. They are rich in illustration. They breathe 
with the fire of a soul in earnest. They possess the rare 
power of kindling the heart to feeling, and of arousing the 
reader to action. They cannot be read without profit. Sim- 
ilar remarks apply to his " Thoughts " on the manifold topics 
treated of in the second part of this book. They are not ele- 
gant ; they are not always profound : they are abrupt ; the 
unity of the chapters is not always preserved, — a fault growing 
out of the fact of their being written originally in the form of 
familiar letters : but they are vigorous, practical, plain, dis- 
tinguished for strong common sense, and animated, like his 
sermons, though not in the same degree, with life and feel- 
ing. The soul of earnest thought is in them, and they will 
benefit every reflective and serious reader. 

Daniel Wise. 

Ralph W. Allen. 



CONTENTS 



PART I. — REVIVAL SERMONS. 

I. • — The Standing Doubt 13 

II. — The Omnipotence of Faith, 22 

HI. — Purification by Faith, 36 

IV. — The Fear of Death Destroyed by a Sight of Christ, ... 53 

V. — The Fulness Dwelling in Jesus Christ, 72 

VI. — The Fear of Unconverted Men in the Hour of Death, . . 92 

VII. — QuENcniNG the Spirit, - 101 

VET!. — The Striving of the Spirit, 108 

IX. — The Sting of Death, 120 

X. — A Call to Decision, . 136 

XI. — An Invitation to Straitened Souls, 153 



PART II.— MISCELLANIES. 
CHAPTER I. 

IS ENTIRE SANCTIF1CATION A GRADUAL OR AN INSTANTANEOUS -WORK 1 

Three respects in which entire sanctification is gradual — what is entire 
purity 1 — instantaneous sanctification — state of those Methodists who are not 
seeking holiness — on professing holiness — oppositions — quick vegetation in 
warm climates — dying to sin — Mr. Wesley — the doctrine argued from its 
conditions — faith described — Dr. Clark — Fletcher — scriptural proofs — why 
are not believers purified at once — entire sanctification sometimes given with 
justification — the author's experience — objections considered, 165 

CHAPTER IT. 

ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION A DISTINCT BLESSING. 

Methodist opinion — scriptural distinctions — regeneration — sanctification 
begun — the rising sun — sanctification may be received with justification — 
experience of believers generally — why not given at once — case of primitive 
believers considered — scriptural proofs — Richard Watson's opinion — argu- 
mentum ad hominem — various kinds of faith — Barthneus — the leper — the 
diseased woman — poetical extracts — paucity of those who are entirely sanc- 
tified when justified — naked faith — extract from an eminent divine — instan- 
taneous work — an objection considered — conversion necessary to entire sancti- 
fication, f . 181 



VIII CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER III. 

ON REVIVAL PREACHING. 

Desires for revival — the army of Antichrist — piercing preaching the want of 
the church — apostolic preaching — an Irish Christian's opinion — the lazy 
soldier — the eloquent philosopher — a minister who wrote and talked about 
revivals, » 197 

CHAPTER IV. 

OF METHODS TO PROMOTE A REVIVAL. 

Do revivals always begin in the same manner 1 — silent prayer — the secret 
prayer-meeting in the dark — the local preachers and a revival — the despond- 
ing minister and an unexpected revival — facts the materials of revival preaching 

— a just criticism — the medical lecturer — proving of principles insufficient — 
revival speculations — revival department of newspapers and their influence — 
the one conversion — divine glory — joy in heaven — uuited prayer — God's 
time to bless — the awakening — special services —importance of — Hannibal — 
Joash and the bundle of arrows — Gideon and his army — flowery preaching — > 
effect of — its wickedness — striking to make the iron hot, 218 

CHAPTER V. 

EFFECT OF REVIVAL EFFORTS ON LUKEWARM CHURCHES AND CHURCH-MEMBERS. 

Unconverted professors — their number — false teaching — a striking compar- 
ison — sad death-beds — conversion of professors — causes which often lead 
such to change their church relation — opposition — small preaching — revival 
preaching and tender consciences — hypocrites — effect of revivals on dead 
churches — the two pastures — the complaint well answered — deserted congre- 
gations — a confession — unconverted ministers cannot be extensively useful — 
a curse, 236 

CHAPTER VI. 

REVIVALS AND THE TERRORS OF GOD. 

Revival converts often terrified — yet converted — a question in point — facts 

— Lord Bacon — diverse operations of the Holy Spirit — terrible providences — 
revival begun in a thunder-storm — faithfulness of the converts — glorious work 
of the Spirit in Montreal — extraordinary conversion — wonderful results — a 
doubt — God and the storms of ocean — an alarmed family seeking God — the 
cholera and revivals — revival converts endure well — Mr. Wesley's opinion — 
Holy Spirit's care for his own work, 248 

CHAPTER Vn. 

REVIVAL EXCITEMENTS. 

William Dawson and an objection to revival excitement — a dialogue — Elijah 
and the Carmelite — fear of the latter — his opinion of heavy rains — its past 
evils — Elijah's struggles — his disregard of the Carmelite — ^ Elijah's servant — 
the Carmelite compares ancient and modern rains — unseasonable rains — de- 
structive rains — the wheat and the chaff — the Carmelite's vexation — the 
shower falls — glorious results — quotation from Horace — frequent preaching — 
Cato, . . .■."." 261 



CONTENTS. IX 

CHAPTER Vin. 

OP CONFUSION' IX REVIVAL PRAYER-MEETINGS. 

The baronet's opinion of Rev. G. Whitefield — his error corrected — a revival is 
old Methodism revived — Mr. Wesley and scenes in revival meetings — the band- 
room excitement — the surprised father — a Quaker's opinion — the select 
meeting — revival scene in Cork — the objector — blasting rocks — the town- 
clerk of Ephesus — a royal boaster, ? 275 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE INQUIRER DIRECTED. 

The objections of an awakened sinner — the heart to be given as it is — help- 
lessness of sinners — poetical extract — offices of the Holy Spirit — tardy peni- 
tents reproved-— a heart with inbred sin not fully comforted — ignorance of 
privileges illustrated — fruits of the Spirit — the gold coin — past experience — 
the old man and the potato-cakes — almanacs and their use — the sea-captain — 
the stake in the field — cry of the Spirit — extract from Dr. Paley — the pot of 
manna, 281 

CHAPTER X. 

THE CONVERT UNDER TEMPTATION. 

The hue and cry — Pharaoh's brick-kilns — Satan's rage — temptation and 
evidence of escape — -fear of backsliding — Christian armor — patience needful — 
gold — holiness — God's fidelity — promises — a hymn — ministry of angels — 
the martyr — safety of believers — how to meet Satan — Irish class-leader's 
illustration — a mediator — the martyr's joy — saying of Augustine — extract — 
effect of trial on our spiritual exercises — mental conflicts overruled — Samson 
and the lion — rough winds — Christ on the lake — a duty — the buoy — Chris- 
tian security — varieties in Christian experience — heathen opinions — life a 
pilgrimage of blasts — fiery trials — mental trials — an experiment — Satan's 
chain — depths of Satan — views of personal history — Benjamin — Satan's skill 
— a tender conscience — a scrupulous conscience — King Josiah — Satan's 
devices — love and trials, 290 

CHAPTER XI. 

INSUFFICIENCY OF INFIDELITY. 

Aristoxenus — universal feeling — character of infidels — a sentiment — poet- 
ical extract — a dying infidel's confession — necessity of holiness an argument 
against infidelity — the spider — bold sinners — Nero — Julian — Grecian cow- 
ards — sudden death of an infidel — a poet's death -bed — the dying infidel's 
rebuke — a bad man's thoughts while drowning — two deaths — God's justice 
slow but potential — the sleigh-ride — test of principles — the way of infidels 
hard, 310 



CHAPTER XII. 

INFIDELITY AND FAITH CONTRASTED. 

Spiritual blindness — the blind philosopher — ridiculous position of infidels — 
foolish Harpaste — quotation — infidel folly — infidels are dupes — poetical ex- 
tract—death-bed confession, 320 



X CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XHI. 

INFIDELS NOT SINCERE. 

"Writer's persuasion — two gentlemen and a countryman — infidelity has no 
charm — infidel consciences hard — extract — old proverb — mariner's compass 
and iron mountain — causes that mislead infidels, 324 



CHAPTER XIV. 

INFIDEL OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 

English and American infidels alike — objections — the painter's broomstick 
— a lady's reply — the infidel no judge of sin's penalty — justice of eternal 
punishment — the child's rebuke — the Welsh peasant and the Socinian — 
leaving popular opinion — the foolish nurses, , 327 

CHAPTER XV. 

THE ANXIETY OF INFIDELS. 

The creed of infidels — why infidels love discussion — two things concerning 
infidelity — the farmer's doubt — grammar and dissensions — objection derived 
from lives of Christians — voices from the tomb — looking down on Christians — 
character of true Christians — the western travellers, , . . . 331 



CHAPTER XVI. 

INFIDEL DEFENCES DEMOLISHED. 

A great infidel want — infidel difficulties not offspring of intellectual greatness 

— one false principle — a supposition — a nation of infidels — infidelity has no 
moral principles — infidels are illiberal — an infidel's avowal — Bible and reason 

— a comparison — free-thinkers are free-doers — the highwayman's confession 

— the infidel fear — a statesman's reason for not propagating infidelity — Chris- 
tian morality — a sophism — the two watchmen — an epitaph, 337 



CHAPTER XVII. 

ANNIHILATION. 

Relation between poor health and error — what is annihilation'? — idea of 
eternity difficult to be expelled from the mind — atheists — a predicament 
expressed by a poet — annihilation considered — not a small matter — a dilemma 
— extract from the Sheffield bard. 345 



CHAPTER XVHI. 

THE SOUL NOT MATERIAL. 

Argument from divine and angelic natures — a dilemma — summary — a 
writer's argument — thought not an element of matter — a view of the creation 
— meaning of immaterial — why the word is used, 349 



CONTENTS. XI 

CHAPTER XIX. 

THE MISERY OF BACKSLIDERS. 

Mournful cadences — God's declaration — cause of backsliding not a secret — 
extract — Paul — condemnation spontaneous — quaint comparisons — what the 
heart was — a rebuking conscience -*■ remorse of a dying sinner — remorse hard 
to suffer — sentiment of a Frenchman — word of encouragement — the prodigal's 
welcome — comment of old divine on Ezek. 18 : 24 — the scrivener's regret — 
the night after the fall — extract from Milton — mental anguish — promises to 
penitent backsliders — God near to the penitent — a striking thought — why 
pardon is delayed — reflection on the past needful — an awful lesson — affecting 
incident — its application, 352 

CHAPTER XX. 

CHRIST A BACKSLIDER'S SAVIOUR. 

Unbelief inventive — an objection — presence of sin — an aged Christian and 
the name of Jesus — thoughts of Christ — power of Jesus' name — the name of 
Christ omnipotent — names of Deity — a revival incident — a question — an 
invitation, 365 

CHAPTER XXI. 

PAST SINS OF BACKSLIDERS. 

Dryden's sentiment — the law's demand — forgetfulness of sin not pardon — 
recollection of sin should not hinder from coming to Christ — the depth of Christ's 
mercy to be viewed — an illustration — when repentance is deep enough — 
Satan's advantage — effect of looking to Christ, 372 

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE BACKSLIDER MUST TAKE RIGHT VIEWS OF GOD. 

Hindrances to salvation not in God — faith precedes feeling — the Father 
must be honored — God's love for sinners equal to the love of Christ — God ia 
reconciled by the death of Christ — faith — dishonoring views of the Father — 
fear a sequence of erroneous views — expulsive ideas — Socinian errors and their 
opposite extreme — Scripture views of the Father, 377 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE BACKSLIDER ENCOURAGED. 

A change — imperfect peace — extract from Arbuthnot — conflict between light 
and unbelief — confidence and love — further thoughts on the relation of the 
Father to the atonement — abounding love of the Father — harmony in the God- 
head — backsliders are welcome, 385 



CHAPTER XXIY. 

THE BACKSLIDER RESTORED. 

Praise — great deliverance — humble gratitude demanded — Satan frustrated 
- cause for increased surprise — a snare of Satan, 393 



XII CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

OF PRAYER. 

Scripture prayer — language of prayer — tho Yorkshire peasant — coarse 
prayers — sincerity — the reproof — sin — ardent prayer — Paulus JEmilius — 
saying of a bishop — supplication — Cecil's illustration — Demosthenes and his 
client — lazy prayers — answers to prayers — God and prayer, 397 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE BELIEVER IN AFFLICTION". 

A mystery — a comparispn — the father and his boy — ancient nobles — chas- 
tening and punishing — Saint Austin's saying — why God chastens — chasten- 
ing unp^sant — Christ in the garden — Moses — the spouse of Christ — results 
of afflicts — Satan's masterpiece — counterfeits — St. Paul and St. James — 
good works — crosses and rewards, 403 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

HINTS TO MINISTERS. 

A call to preach — ministers assailants — Mr. Wesley's sentiments — min- 
isterial improvement — how to lose revival zeal — a dangerous state — seculari- 
ties pressed on ministers — pulpit talents — relation of prayer-meetings to the 
pulpit — pause in a revival — sin of a minister in a revival — ordinary effect of 
ministerial sin — comparisons — the rebuke — ministerial holiness — legal and 
evangelical preaching — Old Humphrey — Popilius .., 410 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

MINISTERIAL CONFLICTS. 

Cold manner — efforts in summer — revival labors — instruction gained in 
revivals — the closet and the pulpit — studying mind — human nature to be 
observed — a sad event — how to be qualified — on cultivating a revival spirit — 
the archbishop's choice — the greater honor — death -bed joy — a promise — Dr. 
Payson's joy — students for the ministry — what they should be — variety of 
gifts — the reapers — the Spartan mother — a mortifying failure — plague in 
Israel — the fair breeze improved — God's business — intervals between revivals 

— wicked men in the church — a revival — how it begun and went on — the in- 
habitants of the pole rejoicing to see the sun — strange movements of some 
sinners — noble examples — dead and living fish — the pilot and the commander 

— God with us, .421 



REVIVAL MISCELLANIES 



SERMON I. 

THE STANDING DOUBT. 

Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks : for this is the 
will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. — 1 Thes. 5 : 16, 17, 18. 

Now, that is a religion worth having. It is the sum and sub- 
stance of all true religion. It is the religion of the Bible, the 
religion of Heaven. I again repeat, such a religion as my text 
describes is a religion worth having ; and if a man has it, he 
will know it. Do you think it is possible for a man -to rejoice 
evermore, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks, 
and not know it ? The religion of the New Testament is the 
simplest thing in the world. It is as open as the day. It seems 
to say to me, — Read me, criticize me, embrace me, and I will 
make you happy : and if it makes you happy, will you not 
know it ? You cannot, then, have religion, and not know it. 
Our text contains two ways, two glorious ways, by which 
the soul ascends to God, — prayer and gratitude. It contains 
three links of Christian experience, — joy, prayer, thanksgiving. 
They all depend one upon the other ; you cannot destroy one 
without destroying the whole. If you stop praying, you will 
soon stop thanking ; and if you stop thanking, you will soon stop 
rejoicing ; cease to rejoice, and the voice of thanksgiving will be 
hushed, and the spirit of prayer will droop and die. Then we 
say, " Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing," &c. We will 

I. Show that it is the privilege of the Christian to 

REJOICE EVERMORE. 

II. State the reason why so many professors do not 
attain to this happy state. 

2 



14 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

First, the privilege. 

" Were we called upon to embody and delineate the spirit of 
the Gospel, we would not dip our pencil in the black die of mel- 
ancholy, to paint a dark and dismal figure, with cloudy counte- 
nance and dismal brow, clothed in sable, and heaving sighs, with 
a downcast look and a mournful step, as if the world were one 
wide burial-ground, and her pathway was continually among 
graves ; and the only light that gleamed upon that path was the 
ghastly light that glimmered in a charnel-house ; and the only 
sound that met her ear was the shriek of the death struggle, and 
the chant of the funeral dirge. No ; I would dip my pencil in 
the loveliest hues of heaven, to paint a bright and beautiful spirit 
from the skies, with the love of God sparkling on her counte- 
nance, and the glory of God beaming on her brow ; clothed with 
garments of light, and crowned with a wreath of amaranth ; with 
a smile of such sweet serenity as would tell that all within was 
peace, — the peace of God ; and an aspect of holy gladness 
caught from every sight of beauty and every sound of melody ; 
with a buoyant step becoming a traveller to the skies, and an 
upward look raised rejoicingly to Him who is her hope and happi- 
ness, and to that heaven from which she came, and to which she 
is returning; walking amidst earth's snares with white robes 
unspotted by its defilements ; or descending from her high and 
holy communings with God, to minister to man's welfare as 
heaven's ministering spirit of mercy; entering the abodes of 
misery, and making the broken heart to sing for joy ; visiting 
the dwellings of rejoicing, and hallowing all their happiness with 
the smile of God." Religion is from heaven ; she walks amidst 
the murky gloom of earth ; she is the true philosopher's stone, 
converting everything to gold ; she is described in our text as 
imparting perpetual joy, — " Rejoice evermore." 

If you want this perpetual joy, you must cultivate it, — you 
must keep breathing towards heaven after it. You, I say, must 
cultivate it ; and, like everything else, it will improve by prac- 
tice. There are within your reach thousands of considerations 
calculated to increase your joy- — considerations from within, 
without, the past, the present, the future, hell, earth, heaven, 



THE STANDING DOUBT. 15 

and one spot above all others — Calvary. Very few seem to 
understand this happy philosophy, — very few learn this blessed 
art ; and, consequently, they are up one day and down another. 
Life with them is a checkered scene, full of lights and shadows ; 
sadness, gloom, and despair, mingled with a few gleams of joy. 
Sorrow, however, extends its dark shadow over the greater part 
of life, and the sunny spots are few and far between. For a 
long time this was my own experience ; sometimes I was hap- 
py, but the momentary joy I felt was followed by days of dark- 
ness and distress. But God has led me into a higher and hap- 
pier state. My soul is very happy. O, how constantly happy 
ami! I have proved it by sea and by land, in perils and in 
sunshine. I have been brought into circumstances where all 
human helps failed ; and, when death has threatened, my soul 
has been happy. I have been wandering for some time a stran- 
ger in a strange land, but the joy of the Lord has been my 
strength ; my strength in travelling, in laboring, in suffering ; 
my strength in praying, in preaching; and, when the last mor- 
tal struggle shall come, — when death shall chill the current of 
life, — when my heart and flesh shall fail, I doubt not but even 
then the joy of the Lord shall be my strength. The joy of the 
Lord is a spring of happiness; rainbow-like, it shines brightest 
amidst the darkest gloom, and death itself will only make it 
celestial and immortal. 

You never glorify God by fretting away your little hour, and 
by murmuring at your lot. If a gentleman turns out his ser- 
vants thin, lean, meagre, shabbily dressed, and ill-favored, the 
people say, " Ah, they have a poor shop of it ! We don't envy 
them their lot ! Their looks tell what sort of a master they 
have." But, if he turns them out well clothed, with fine ruddy 
countenances, robust, strong, and healthy in appearance, " Ah !" 
say the people, " they have rare times ; they do their master 
credit ; it 's worth while being a servant to such a master as that !" 
It is the happy Christian that honors his religion and his God. 
The world sees that he has happiness to which they are stran- 
gers. " Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice." 
Phil. 4:4. "0 come, and let us sing unto the Lord ; let us 



16 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation." Ps. 95: 1. 
" Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands ; serve the 
Lord with gladness, and come, before his presence with singing." 
Ps. 98 : 4. " Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, ye righteous, 
and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart." Ps. 33: 
1. " Let the saints be joyful in glory, let them sing aloud upon 
their beds." Ps. 149 : 5. "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the 
Lord." Phil. 3:1. " Let the priests be clothed with righteous- 
ness, and shout aloud for joy." " Rejoice evermore." 

" Do you think," inquires one, " that all Christians have this 
joy ? " I answer no ; I never thought so. If you could follow 
many of them into the domestic circle, — into the scenes of busi- 
ness, — could you draw aside the veil and look at them there, 
would you hear expressions of joy breaking forth from their lips? 
No ; you would hear grumbling — grumbling — grumbling at 
everything. If this gloomy, repining state of mind, in which 
multitudes of professing Christians indulge, were put into words, — 
if what the heart says — for the heart often says to God what 
the lips would not for worlds utter ; and, remember, God is always 
listening to the silent but most expressive language of the heart, 
— now, a believer's heart when repining, says to God (oh, may 
yours never speak it to him !) " God of all my blessings — God 
of my salvation ! I believe that the disposal of all the events of 
my life is in thy hands, and that thou hast promised to make 
them all work together for my good ; but still I am so dissatis- 
fied with the manner in which thou art arranging those events, — 
there is so much undeserved harshness, unnecessary severity, 
in thy dealings with me, — that I wdsh either that thou wouldst 
alter thy mode of treatment, or that the guardianship were 
taken out of thy hands." 

Is not this the appalling language of a repining heart ? Ought 
he ever to read it in your heart, believer, who for your everlasting 
happiness has drained the life-blood of his own ? Think, then, 
how it must wound him to look into your heart, and see that, 
after all he has done, all he has suffered for you, he has failed 
to win for himself your acquiescence, your confidence, your su- 
preme affection ! Well, whatever be the course you pursue, here 



THE STANDING DOUBT. 17 

is God's will about you, — " Rejoice evermore, pray without 
ceasing, in everything give 1>hanks : for this is the will of God in 
Christ Jesus concerning you." Here is the will, signed, sealed, 
and delivered over to you. " Rejoice evermore." 

This is the will of God concerning you, — but when ? When 
you come up to heaven ? No ; I answer, now ! It is God's 
will this moment concerning you ; and he now holds down to 
you a bunch of grapes — a bunch with three as fine grapes as 
ever grew in any part of the sunny world. He bids you gather 
them and eat. He places them near — within your reach. He 
offers them freely. He bids you gather, and eat, and live for- 
ever ! — continued joy, unceasing prayer, perpetual thanksgiv- 
ing. Get this joy ; it will be to you what the wings are to the 
bird. The bird does not feel his wings ; they carry themselves and 
him too. The ship does not feel the weight of the sails ; the 
sails carry themselves, and waft on the vessel too. The joy of 
the Lord, as a heavenly breeze, will waft you onward. God says 
to you, " Come, and I will show you the length and the breadth 
of Immanuel's land." The church of Christ is rising to a better 
understanding of her privileges. I have been, within the last 
few years, travelling many thousands of miles, and I have been 
astonished to see what multitudes of people, in different places 
around this planet, are gathering to the Great Messiah. The 
Lord hasten the time when all shall know him ! 

II. — State the reason why so many professors do not attain to 
this happy state of experience. 

First. Many professors in the Christian church have never 
been born again. This is a fact as true as it is painful. Con- 
science lifts up its warning voice ; the Spirit flashes conviction 
across their minds ; or, under some alarming providence or Holy 
Ghost sermon, they become alarmed, — convinced of sin, — and, 
under the influence of these feelings, they connect themselves with 
the people of God, and suppose that all is right. They are de- 
ceived, and they deceive others. 'Tis true there is a great 
change in them, a change pervading their whole conduct. 'Tis 
true there is stillness, but it is the stillness of death ; there is 
peace, but it is the peace of the tomb. The circle of ceremonies 
2* 



18 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

is filled up, but you never hear them say, " O, how I loved the 
closet ! All hail, sacred hour of devotion ! " Were you to listen 
ever so attentively, you would never hear them exclaiming, 
" O, precious Sabbath ! how calm, how sacred, how holy, thy 
hands ! how my soul revels in thy hallowed exercises ! 
When wilt thou arrive ? " No ; their religion is a reli- 
gion of fear, and all the hopes they have of heaven are based 
on their fancied freedom from evil - — on reformation — on pro- 
fession. They are proof against every argument, and every 
appeal : their profession acts like a lightning conductor. See ! 
see ! that old thatched house there in the distance. Look close- 
ly at it, and you will see a little black rod running up along the 
side of it, from the bottom to the very top, and extending itself 
above the chimney. It is a lightning conductor ; it attracts and 
leads off the burning element. Ah ! your profession has many 
a time acted like the lightning conductor. When God's ser- 
vants, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, have made the 
lightnings of divine truth flash upon you that would have de- 
molished your refuge of lies, discovered to you your guilty state, 
and have led you to the blood of Christ, up went your lightning 
conductor, and every impression was evaded. You know nothing 
of deep, solid, spiritual joy ; you cannot rejoice evermore ; and 
one reason is, you have never been born again ; and, until this 
is the case, you may as well try to unite fire and water, heaven 
and hell, as try to rejoice evermore. Bring together wind 
and water, and you will have a storm ; bring into contact fire 
and water, and you will have a commotion ; bring the holy prin- 
ciples of Christianity and an unholy heart, and you will have a 
commotion, a storm, a tempest ; they cannot agree, they cannot 
harmonize ; either you must change the religion or change the 
heart — they cannot unite. I tell you, you may as well try to 
make the poles meet, stop the winds in their course, roll back 
the tide, or pluck the sun from the heavens, as perpetually to 
rejoice without the new birth. " Marvel not that I say unto you, 
ye must be born again." 

2. Another reason why so many professors do not rejoice ever- 
more is, they have a standing doubt of their acceptance with 



THE STANDING DOUBT. 19 

God — a doubt as to whether they are born again ; and there- 
fore they cannot rejoice evermore. Now, that is a bit of real 
mental philosophy. "What do you mean," says one, "by a 
standing doubt ? " I mean that the doubt has something to 
stand upon ; that is, you cannot tell the time and place of your 
conversion. " Yes," says one, " I can tell the very time and 
place where God pardoned my sins, but I cannot rejoice ever- 
more." Ah ! I know what you are ; you are a backslider ! The 
devil could tell you that he was once in heaven — once a son 
of the morning — once an archangel in glory ; that he once sung 
sweetly amidst the bowers of Eden; that he once raised the 
high hallelujahs of heaven ; but what of that ? he is a devil now. 
And what is it that you can tell the time, place, and circum- 
stances of your conversion ; — you are a backslider now ! 

A standing doubt ! When did you get converted ? In what 
year of our Lord was it ? In what month ? On what day was 
it ? In what place ? In what town did it happen ? You know 
the place of your natural birth. You could point out the place, 
town, room, hour, and perhaps the very minute ; and probably 
you keep an anniversary of your birth-day. O ! I love to see 
families do that ; I love to hear the voice of joy and melody in 
their tabernacles, while they commemorate the birth-day of one 
of the happy group. You do this, but then you have no spirit- 
ual birth-day anniversary. 

" But, sir," says one. " is that essential to religion ? " I an- 
swer, — Why — no, no, not essential like repentance and faith ; 
but very desirable. I have carefully examined this point ; I 
have had an opportunity of conversing with some thousands on 
the state of their experience ; and I am prepared to affirm, that 
in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred where they could not tell 
the time and place of their spiritual birth, I have found them in 
a very uncertain and doubtful state of experience. While I was 
dining, the other day, at a friend's house, the wife and children 
were all looking cheerful and happy, the husband very de- 
pressed and melancholy ; presently he looked at me and said, 
" O, sir ! I don't know what to make of this preaching !* you 
have completely shut me up in a corner, and you only just left 



20 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

me one little loophole to creep out at." Whatever may be the 
depressions produced in minds by this kind of preaching, such 
is the fact, — just about one out of a hundred ! I hold that the 
work of conversion is so momentous, that no man can pass 
through it, and not know it. The Bible speaks of it as a pass- 
ing from darkness to light; from the devil to Christ; from 
bondage to liberty ; from death to life ! You cannot drink the 
wormwood and the gall, you cannot cry for mercy, you cannot 
experience the new creation, — you cannot pass through all these 
asleep. Is there a sailor here ? I believe there is. Do you 
remember when your vessel dashed upon a rock, and became a 
wreck? Plunged in the boiling deep, you struggled through 
the foaming waves, and reached that rock. There you sat 
down, drenched, chilled, exhausted ; you expected to perish. 
A vessel hove in sight; you waved your handkerchief; one of 
the crew saw you ; the boat was lowered ; the rope was thrown 
out to you ; you tied it round your waist, and sprang into the 
sea ; you were drawn out and saved. Can you forget that 
deliverance ? No, — never ! never ! While memory holds its 
seat, it will be engraven there. And, I ask the professor, can 
you forget when you were pardoned? when you were saved 
from hell? when you obtained a title to heaven? when you 
underwent the change that determines your destiny? But, 
ah ! you cannot recollect the time and place of that great event. 
There is still that standing doubt ; like Aaron's rod, it swallows 
up everything. Like Pharaoh's seven lean kine, it devours all ; 
it follows you like your shadow. You retire to your closet to 
hold communion with God ; you confess your failing ; you look 
at the great blessings of salvation ; your soul kindles with 
strong desire ; you ask God to bestow these blessings upon 
you ; but up comes the standing doubt. You come to the house 
of Goo! ; you hear the messenger of heaven opening up the 
great privileges of the saints ; you see how infinitely superior 
they are to aught that earth can bestow ; and you would re- 
joice, — but there 's that standing doubt. Then you think of ' 
heaven — of that better land — of the society of the blessed — 
of the employment of the redeemed — of the visions of God — 



THE STANDING DOUBT. 21 

of the eternity of glory — of the fadeless crowns : you would 
bless God for the prospect, and " break out into a song," but up 
conies the standing doubt, — perhaps I am not a Christian ; if 
not, the heaven is not mine. You think of hell, the fire, the 
gnawing worm, the burning wrath of God, the society of devils, 
the cry of despair, the shrieks of the lost, the howlings of the 
damned, the eternity of death, the universal wail, the groans of 
boundless woe awakening, echoing, rolling around the world of 
death. " But, ah ! " say you, "I am a professor ; I am a 
Christian ; I shall be saved from that hell." But up comes the 
standing doubt, " Perhaps I am ; I think I am ; I trust I am ; 
but I don't know." Well, then, 't is only " Perhaps I shall es- 
cape it ; I think I shall escape it ; I trust I shall escape it ; but 
I don't know." Ah ! there 's the standing doubt ! You can- 
not rejoice evermore. 

Get this matter settled; get it settled at once. End this 
controversy with Heaven. Fly, fly to the blood — the blood — 
the blood of the Lamb. I tell you, if you take not care, this 
standing doubt will get you into hell, after all. Now, you are 
pardoned, or you are not pardoned ; you are condemned, or you 
are justified. If there was a world where there was neither a 
God nor a Devil, — neither sin nor holiness, — if there was 
some middle state, some border land, where you would be 
asked no questions about your conduct, — where there would be 
no open books, no judgment day, — then you might have gone 
on with this standing doubt. But there is no border land. 
There is, however, a judgment day. There are books to be 
opened. There is a Judge — an omniscient Judge. And it 's all 
near at hand. O ! will you get this standing doubt removed ? 
Will you get this great question set at rest ? 



SERMON II. 

THE OMNIPOTENCE OF FAITH. 

Therefore, I say unto you, what things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that 
ye receive them, and ye shall have them. — Mark 11 : 24. 

The congregation will recollect that these words were spoken 
by the Saviour, as he was passing from the Mount of Olives 
to Jerusalem. By the wayside he saw a fig-tree which looked 
beautiful, and doubtless gave signs of fruit upon it ; and, being 
hungry, he looked up among the leaves for fruit, but there was 
none ; and he said, " No man eat fruit of thee henceforth for- 
ever." He killed the tree, but taught a great doctrine. The 
next morning, as Christ and his disciples were passing by, Peter 
remembered that the tree had been cursed ; he looked at it, and 
said, " Master, it is withered," withered from top to bottom, dried 
up from the roots, cursed. Jesus said unto them, " Have faith 
in God ; for verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto 
this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, 
and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those 
things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatso- 
ever he saith. Therefore, I say unto you, what things soever 
ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye 
shall have them." I should like to say to this audience, that 
whenever our Saviour said, " Verily, verily," he was about to 
deliver some very important truth. He was now teaching the 
omnipotence of faith. 

In Manchester, within the last few days, many things have 
been said about sudden conversion. An old lady said to me, 
" Why, Mr. C, I hear that you are converting them by scores, 
and by hundreds. I don't understand this sudden conversion." 
I answer, there is no such a thing in the Scripture as gradual 



THE OMNIPOTENCE OF FAITH. 23 

conversion, or gradual purity ; there must be a last moment when 
sin exists, and a first moment when it does not ; and this must 
take place in time, for one moment after death would be too 
late, unless we believe in purgatory. Pardon and purity are 
doctrines clearly taught in the Bible ; and, in the very nature of 
things, they must be sudden in their attainment. Our text is the 
great polar star of our salvation. You will remember it is re- 
corded in the life of Napoleon, when he was contemplating the 
Russian campaign, his uncle, Cardinal Fesch, endeavored to dis- 
suade him from it. Napoleon's words are these : " Am I to 
blame because the great degree of power I have already attained 
forces me to assume the dictatorship of the world ? My destiny 
is not yet accomplished ; my present situation is but a sketch of 
the picture which I must finish. There must be one universal 
European code — one court of appeal. The same money, the 
same weights and measures, the same laws, must have currency 
throughout Europe. I must make one nation out of all the 
European states, and Paris must be the capital of the world." 

His uncle remonstrated with him, and conjured him not to 
tempt Providence — not to defy Heaven and earth, the wrath 
of man and the fury of the elements ; at the same time, he also 
expressed his fear that he would sink under the difficulties. 
The only answer which Napoleon gave was in keeping with 
his character. He led the cardinal to the window, and opening 
the casement, he pointed upward, and asked him " If he saw 
yonder star?" "No, sire," answered the astonished cardinal. 
" But I see it," answered Napoleon. 

We point you to our text as the great polar star of faith, the 
great charter for believing, — containing a principle on which 
slumbers Omnipotence, — as the medium that links man to the 
throne of the Great Eternal, connecting man with God. 

Archimedes, when he discovered the power of the lever, said, 
" If you can find me a fulcrum to rest my lever upon, I can 
move the world." " What is a fulcrum ? " says one. I an- 
swer, a point or centre on which a lever turns. " And what is 
a lever ? " I answer, a bar, or mechanical power by which 
great weights are moved. 



24 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

Our text is the fulcrum — faith is the lever ; and with it we 
can move two worlds at once, and hell into the bargain. " What 
things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive 
them, and ye shall have them." 

Before we discuss this subject, we want to ask a few questions. 
There are, perhaps, persons here belonging to other denomina- 
tions. You may be Calvinists, and as good, I hope, as any of 
us. You may, however, differ from me on doctrinal points ; 
and, to do you good, I should have to argue with you half an 
hour, and then perhaps leave you as I found you. "Well, I leave 
all controversy with the pastors ; but I want to beg just two 
things of you. First, go with me as far as you can ; and the 
second is, get all the good you can. 

There are also some backsliders here. Are you willing to 
come back ? " Yes," says one, " I am, I am ; for I have had a 
miserable life of it." 

And you who are seeking pardon, I want to ask you a ques- 
tion. " Pardon ! " says one ; " why, my heart is as hard as a 
flint." Well, if God shall convert your soul before I leave this 
place, will you meet me in the school-room at the close of this 
service to let me know it ? Will you do it ? Well, I believe 
you will. 

And you who are seeking the witness of the Spirit and purity 
of heart. If God shall purify your heart before I leave this 
place, will you meet me at the close of this service and let me 
know it ? You will all do it, will you ? Well, I will trust 
to your honor. Says one, " Then you are expecting souls to be 
saved before you leave the pulpit, are you ? " I am, I am ex- 
pecting it ; and heaven expects it, and hell expects it. I believe 
we shall have souls saved ere I leave this place. Lord, help ! 
Holy Ghost, help ! " What things soever ye desire when ye 
pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." 



I. Is THERE ANY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FAITH AND BELIEV- 



ING 



I answer, yes ; just as much as between water at rest and 
water in motion — wind at rest and wind in motion. Believing 



THE OMNIPOTENCE OF FAITH. 25 

is the application of faith to some truth. Believing is faith in 
motion. There may be ever so much faith, and no believing. 
It is not enough that there be a general conviction that God is 
true ; that the Bible is a revelation from him ; that the invisible 
things of which the Bible speaks are realities : there may be all 
this, and yet no salvation. God has given us his testimony that 
Jesus Christ died a sacrifice for the sins of every man, and con- 
sequently for me. Faith, then, is putting confidence in God's 
testimony ; it is to be understood in a plain, common-sense way. 
The Bible was written for the people — the common people — 
the mass ; and if God has not meant the word faith to be under- 
stood in a common-sense way, he would have prefaced the Bible 
with a dictionary, and have explained the nature of believing ; 
but, as there is no such an explanation given, we infer that we 
are to understand it just as it is understood in ordinary language 
among men. As to the mystery of faith, there is no mystery 
about it. Just put confidence in God as you would in a friend. 
Unbelief is the great sin of the age — the sin that shuts up 
heaven — the plague-spot of eternal death on the soul — the 
sinner's mittimus to hell written in his heart — the sin that damns 
the soul. On the other hand, faith opens the hand of God, 
secures salvation, conquers hell, and places the soul on the throne 
of God. Believing, then, is faith in motion — faith laying hold 
on the testimony of God. 

II. Is FAITH THE GIFT OF GOD ? 

There is a great deal of controversy in the world on this ques- 
tion — in America, in England, and especially in Scotland. Is 
faith the gift of God, or is it not ? I answer, everything that is 
good in man is from God ; and everything that is bad in him is 
from the devil, and himself. I am exceedingly jealous of every- 
thing that seems to rob God of a particle of the glory of a sin- 
ner's salvation. But in what sense is faith the gift of God ? I 
answer, believing is the gift of the God of grace just in the same 
sense as breathing, walking, eating, hearing, seeing, are the 
gifts of the God of nature. It is plain to every man's common 
sense, that while the power to perform these acts is from God, 
3 



26 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

the acts themselves are purely his own. As God does not 
breathe, walk, eat, hear, see for us, neither does he believe for 
us. God has given man a capacity to believe ; viz., a mind to 
weigh evidence, and to receive truth when supported by evidence. 
He has given the object of faith ; viz., the Lord Jesus Christ, 
which is like a great sun risen upon our world. 

We infer, then, as God has given the capacity, the evidence, 
the object, and as he has laid the responsibility on man ; as the 
sentence of the last judgment turns on this point; as salvation 
or damnation is suspended on believing or non-believing, the act 
of faith must be possible — must be a man's own. O, how im- 
portant it is that you understand what is God's part, and what 
is your part, in this matter ! — that you should see the folly of 
indulging in unbelief, under the delusion that God has not given 
you faith ! How many on this vital point have been deceived ! 
How many of the slain has the grave closed over ! How many, 
as they rushed into eternity, and as the gleams of immortal light 
flashed upon them, and dispelled the delusions that ruined them, 
uttered a death-howl ', went down damned, and more than blood 
was shed! What could God have done, to enable you to believe, 
that he has not done ? If all things be ready, then, why tarry ? 
Why wait ? Believe and be saved. " What things soever ye 
desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall 
have them." 

III. HOW CAN YOU ACCOUNT FOR IT THAT THERE IS IN SOME 
A GREATER APTNESS TO BELIEVE THAN IN OTHERS? 

Some account for it on the ground of constitutional differ- 
ences. I don't believe a word of it ; I don't believe that one 
man is born with greater constitutional tendency to believe than 
another. Others account for it on the ground of divine partial- 
ity. I answer, there is no partiality in God, except such as 
you make yourselves. God is partial to them that believe his 
word; hence it is written, " He that believeth shall be saved." 

We may, in some measure, account for this inaptness to be- 
lieve, on the ground of the pride of intellect. " O ! " says one, 
" I am not like one of the simple herd of mankind, who can re- 



THE OMNIPOTENCE OF FAITH. 27 

ceive for truth every silly notion announced to them. I must 
have evidence — good sound argument ; I must be convinced 
before 1 can believe." 

"Well," you say, "do you despise me for that?" No; I 
honor a thinking man ; but you pride yourself above the com- 
mon mass, and you will not come down to receive God's plain, 
simple testimony. God says, " What things soever ye desire 
when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have 
them," and you refuse to believe this testimony. 

" Well," says another, " some have a weak faith, and some a 
strong faith ; how do you account for that ? " I answer, the 
one has an exercised faith, and the other a non-exercised faith, 
and that is the reason why there is a greater aptness to believe 
in one than in another. Look yonder at that blacksmith, wield- 
ing the heavy hammer from hour to hour, and that without any 
injury or inconvenience. Were you to labor with that hammer 
for one half an hour, you would be so stiff, the next morning, that 
you would scarcely be able to lift your hand to your head ; but 
the blacksmith is up and at it, the next morning, as lively as ever ; 
exercise has made the difference. Take another illustration. 
Suppose a mother to bandage her son till it is thirteen years 
old, beginning at his feet, bandaging him up clean to his chin, 
like an Egyptian mummy. At the age of thirteen, she removes 
the bandage, and says, " Now, my son, run forth and play with 
other children." Why, it cannot move ; its joints are stiff; it 
is a complete cripple. Ah, some of you have been in bandages 
all your life ; you are spiritual cripples. Glory be to God, if 
you will but believe, he will set your joints all right, and put 
strength in your limbs. " What things soever ye desire when 
ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." 
What does another mother do with her weakly child ? Why, 
she sets him on his feet, and holds out one finger to him, and 
says, " Now, my dear, try." Down he tumbles. She sets him 
up again. — " Come, come, my son ; try, try again." (Ah, you 
see he is very weakly yet ! ) He tries again, and down he goes. 
" Come, come, my son ; try once more. There, now, — that 's 
better ! " Soon he reaches from chair to chair ; and, if you don't 



28 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

take care of him, he is out of doors among the wheels. That 
mother knows the philosophy of getting strength. He gets 
strength. " What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe 
that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." 

IV. Are the objects of faith limited ? 

Can I believe for what I like, and have it ? I answer, no ; on 
temporal matters you must put in an if. I was coming, the other 
day, from Ireland, in a steamer ; I generally suffer dreadfully 
from sea-sickness. I therefore asked the Lord to let us have a 
calm sea ; yet I did not know but that many ships might be lying 
outside the port loaded with corn, and would want a wind to 
blow them up to give food to the starving people, and I would 
not have the people perish to save me from sickness ; therefore, 
I had to put in an if. Still, I believe we may get the full as- 
surance of faith even for temporal matters. That mother may, 
for the safety of her son ; that wife, for the deliverance of her 
husband. There 's an instance in the life of Luther of the as- 
surance of faith in prayer. Miconius was ill with a swelling in 
his throat, given up by the medical men, and appeared to be on 
the borders of death. Luther prayed for him, and said, " Lord, 
Miconius is necessary to thy church; thy work cannot go on 
without him." He felt he had hold of God, and he said, " Mico- 
nius shall not die, but live." Intimation of the confidence of 
Luther for Miconius was sent to the latter, and he was so 
excited that the swelling burst, and his life was spared. 

In a German work there is a circumstance recorded of a 
mother who was lying on what seemed to be the bed of death. 
Her little daughter, about five years of age, was heard to pray, 
" O, dear Lord Jesus, make my mother better ! " The little 
child was heard to repeat to herself, " Yes, I will make your 
mother better." Some would call this the child 's superstition, 
but I call it her faith. The mother recovered. There was once 
a man who had a cancer in his eyes, and his eyes were being 
eaten out with the disease. This poor man cried to the Lord, 
and said, " O Lord, wilt thou let the cancer eat out mine eyes ? 
Thou wilt not, Lord ; thou wilt put greater honor on thy servant 



THE OMNIPOTENCE OF FAITH. 29 

than that;" and, to the astonishment of medical men, his eyes 
were spared. And, if we walk closely with God, we shall often 
get the full assurance of faith even for temporal blessings. 

But, in reference to justification and holiness, we may pray 
with unlimited faith. " Be it unto thee according to thy faith," 
is the law of the kingdom. The kingdom of his grace is thrown 
open to you, and a voice from the throne says, " Be it unto thee 
even as thou wilt." The veracity of God, the blood of Christ, 
yea, every attribute of the Deity, every person in the Godhead, 
are pledged to the fulfilment of this promise. If you abandon 
sin, give up yourselves to him, trust in the blood of his Son, he 
will save you ; nay, he doth save you. There must be no ifs 
here, no peradventures. Let there be an uncompromising, 
unreserved trust in the blood of Christ ; and if the Bible be a 
revelation from Heaven, if there be a covenant of mercy, if there 
be virtue in the blood of Christ, power in the Holy Ghost, truth 
in God, you will be saved. " What things soever ye desire 
when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have 
them." 

V. HOW CAN WE RECONCILE THE PHRASEOLOGY OF THE TEXT, 
AND BELIEVE THAT WE HAVE IN THE PRESENT WHAT IS SPOKEN 
OF IN THE FUTURE TENSE ? 

I was greatly perplexed on this point till, one day, I happened 
to be in company with two ministers : one was a Methodist, and 
the other a Baptist brother. The Methodist said to his Baptist 
brother, " I have been thinking much about that text, ' What 
things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive 
them, and ye shall have them.' I think there must be some 
mistake about the translation. Have you a Greek Testament ? " 
A good old Greek Testament was reached down : the Greek 
lexicon and grammar were also produced, to examine the root 
and the tense of the verb. The words JJigsvsTe (believe), and 
lafifiavexe (receive), were carefully examined. The Baptist 
brother fixed his finger on the words, and said, " It must be in 
the first future." " No," said the Methodist : " see, TttgevyeTe, 
the first future, has a different termination." " Then," said he, 
3* 



30 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

" it must be in the first Aorist." " No, brother : see, STtit^svip are, 
the first Aorist, has a prefix to it ; therefore it cannot be that." 
The Baptist brother said, " I see I must give it up. The words 
are rightly translated." He remembered it was written (Isa. 45 : 
24), "And it shall come to pass, that before they call I will 
answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear." And had 
not Charles Wesley an eye to this passage when he penned that 
hymn, — 

" I take the blessing from above, 
And wonder at thy boundless love " ? 

The Greek scholar can examine for himself; and though he 
may have all the knowledge of an archangel, I defy him to say 
that the passage is wrongly translated. It is, then, " What 
things soever ye desire, believe that ye receive them, and ye 
shall have them." Then you are not to believe that it was done 
some time ago, — not that he will do it at some future period ; 
but believe that he doth it now. 

VI. What preparation must a man have, in order to 

BELIEVE ? 

" What do you mean," says one, " by a preparation ? " I 
answer, I mean, how many tears a man must shed, — how deep 
must be his conviction, — how soft must be his heart, — what 
amount of godly sorrow must he feel, — how long must he 
remain in a state of repentance ? I have read this blessed Bible 
through on my knees, — every word of it, — and I find no standard 
in it ; God has set up none. There is not a word said about 
how many tears a man must shed, how soft or hard the heart 
must be ; nothing of the kind : and, as God has set up no stand- 
ard, I '11 be the last man in the world to make one. I believe 
there are far too many creeds and standards floating about the 
Christian church already. No ; there is no spiritual barometer 
or thermometer ; and I am glad of it, for it would greatly per- 
plex a minister, and it would also greatly distress penitent souls. 
Some persons could not shed a tear, if you gave them the world ; 
still the heart may bleed, while the eyes are dry. Glosjj be to 



THE OMNIPOTENCE OF FAITH. 31 

God, he has put the power in believing — purifying their hearts 
by faith. It is nowhere said, purifying them by tears, by feel- 
ings, by soft hearts or hard ones, by deep convictions or shallow 
ones. He has, however, said, "What things soever ye desire 
when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have 
them." O ! it is by faith, by confidence in God. And this 
method will meet all cases — the case of the farmer, of the doc- 
tor, of the lawyer, of the president of the college, of the servant, 
of the master, of the subject, of the sovereign, of the little child, 
of the venerable sage, of the man of a b c, of the philosopher, — 
yes, of all grades of mind, from the first dawn of reason up to 
intellectual noon. " You do not mean to say," says one, " that 
no preparation is necessary ? " I answer, no, I do not ; for 
where sin is indulged, God will never save. Sin must be given 
up. Many of the Methodists are holding on to sin — indulging 
in things that grieve the Holy Spirit. They are holding the 
truth in unrighteousness ; but, thank God, other denomination's 
are awakening up to these great doctrines — some of the Calvin- 
ists are. Some of the Calvinist ministers came to one of our 
meetings, the other day, and said, " Sir, we are come to get our 
hearts cleansed from sin." The Calvinists may not have all 
the clearness on these great doctrines the Methodists have j but 
God will purify their hearts by faith. ' 

The Methodists have clear scriptural views of these great 
doctrines ; but I tell you, you are holding on to things that will 
damn you ; God would as soon sanctify the devil as sanctify 
you. I know what I say ; I speak advisedly. " Lift up holy 
hands without wrath and doubting." Lift them up to show 
that there is no iniquity in them. You may leave the chapel as 
soon as you like, or, if you have patience to tarry, you may ; 
but I tell you it is of no use ; God will never purify your hearts 
till you give up the sins to which you are clinging. See that 
poor fellow wandering on through the wilderness ; the night is 
dark ; he stumbles, and falls into some deep, dark pit ; he sets 
up a cry for help ; his cry breaks on the stillness of night, and 
is heard echoing on through the wilderness. See those three 
men passjng on, now, as the moon just glimmers through the 



32 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

cloud; — see! see! they are standing listening; they have 
heard that cry for help ; — now they are making way to that 
spot whence the sound proceeds ; one of them is standing on the 
edge of that deep pit ; he listens, and the cry is heard again. 
" Who is down there ? " 

" O, sir, I have fallen into this dreadful place ; my feet are 
stuck in the mire ! " 

" Be of good courage, my friend ; there are two strong fellows 
here, besides myself; we '11 soon have you up." 

Now the rope is being let down. " There, take hold of that 
rope, man ; take fast hold ; now give a strong pull." Up comes 
the rope : the man in the pit has let it slip. " Why, what 's the 
matter, down there ? Come, come ; now take a firmer hold. 
Now, comrades, give another pull." . 

Up comes the rope again. " Why, man, you must surely 
have something in your hands." 

" I have a few things, sir, that I should like to bring up with 
me, down here." 

" Come, cast them away, and take hold of the rope, and not 
trifle in this way ! " 

Now he casts the things out of one of his hands, and they 
try again; but up comes the rope again. "I tell you, man, if 
you don't cast away those things and take hold, we will leave 
you to your fate." Now he casts them all away, and takes firm 
hold, and up he comes ! 

And you must renounce sin. If you indulge iniquity in your 
heart, you may cry till doomsday, and God will not hear your 
prayer. "What preparation is necessary?" I ask, do you 
want pardon or purity ? " What things soever ye desire when 
ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." 
Here, then, you see the preparation necessary. 1st, desire ; 
2nd, prayer; 3d, faith. 

1. Desire. — If your desires be sincere, you will put away every 
evil; you will sacrifice every idol, though it may be dear as 
a right hand, or precious as a right eye. Desires, says an old 
writer, are the sails of the mind. What is it that hurries the 
poor drunkard to the drunkard's grave, with a velocity swift as 



THE OMNIPOTENCE OF FAITH. 33 

time ? Why, desire ; deep, intense, burning desire ; desire 
hardly surpassed by the damned, as they thirst for the cooling 
stream. What is it that hurries on the thief to pluuder his 
neighbor, to stamp his own character with infamy, and endanger 
his life ? Why, desire for wealth not his own. What is it that 
works up man to a point, when he can commit a crime, the 
recollection of which chills his blood, — a crime that brands him 
with the foul deed of murder ? Why, desire. 

"If you desire salvation, then," says Wesley, "look for it 
every day, every hour, every moment." Why not this hour, 
this moment? Certainly, you may look for it now, if you believe 
it is to be obtained by faith. And by this token you may surely 
know whether you seek it by faith or by works. If by works, 
you want something to be done first. You think you must do 
thus or thus. Then you are seeking it by works unto this day. 
If you seek it by faith, and just as you are, then expect it now. 
It is of importance to observe, that there is an inseparable con- 
nection between these three points : expect it by faith, expect it 
as you are, and expect it now. To deny one of them, is to deny 
all of them ; to allow one of them, is to allow them all. Do 
you believe we are sanctified by faith ? Be true to your prin- 
ciple, and look for the blessing just as you are, neither better 
nor worse, as a poor sinner that has still nothing to plead, but 
Christ died. John Fletcher says, " Come to a naked promise by 
a naked faith." I mean by naked faith, faith stripped of feeling; 
with a soft heart, or a hard heart ; just such a heart as you 
have now. If you are seeking to weep more, to get a softer 
heart, before you come to Christ, then you, until now, are seeking 
salvation by works. You see the condition God requires, — 
desire, prayer, faith. Desires are the sails of the mind. Have 
you your sails up? Yes, some of you have. O, my deal 
brother, you are on the very edge of the fountain. Said the 
poor woman, " If I can but touch the hem of his garment, I shall 
be made whole." The crowd presses around him. " I am weak 
with the loss of blood ; I fear I shall never reach him ; I shall 
die in the attempt. Well, if I tarry here, I die ; I can but die. 
I will make the attempt." Borne this way and that way, by 



34 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

the waves of the people, now she is being borne nearer and 
nearer. " If I can but touch the hem of his garment ! " Now, 
trembling, pale, agitated, she stretches out her hand, and touches, 
and is made whole. Now, sinner, Christ is in the crowd ; he is 
nigh thee ; he is passing by thee ; touch him, touch him, and 
live! 

In America, some years ago, there was an old gentleman who 
had constructed an electrifying machine. The students from 
one of the colleges went to his house to see this wonderful 
machine. He began to wind round, and round, and round, till 
the machine was charged with the electric fluid. " Now, my 
lads," said he, " take hold of each other's hands ; now you that 
stand before there, touch that brass ball." He touched, and 
sudden as lightning, the shock was felt through the whole 
group. And if ever this promise was charged with electrifying ', 
galvanizing ', saving power, it is now. " What things soever ye 
desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall 
have them." See ! see that vessel leaving the port of Liverpool. 
(Now, don't laugh at my seafaring language.) " Ship ahoy ! 
whither bound?" "New York, sir." "New York! when do 
you expect to get there, captain?" "Good vessel, sir; fair 
wind; I expect a short voyage." "Why, man, you have not a 
rag of sail up ; I '11 tell you where you '11 get, if you don't take 
care ; you '11 get to the bottom." Now, here comes another 
vessel. " Ship ahoy ! whither bound ? " " New York, sir." 
"New York! when do you expect to arrive there, captain?" 
" Look aloft, sir ; the compass stands direct to a point ; fair wind 
and a fine breeze ! " How finely she 's rigged — mainsail, top- 
sail, top-gallant sail ! See, how she bounds on before the breeze ! 
The desires are the sails of the mind. Have you got your sails 
up ? Yes, yes, bless God ! I see many of you have, — many of 
you in the gallery there, and many of you below there, have 
your sails up. Come, — 

" Blow, breezes, blow a gale of grace." 

Now, let all get down before the Lord ; all of you in the gal- 
lery there, and all of you below. Now, " what things soever 



THE OMNIPOTENCE OF FAITH. 35 

ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye 
shall have them." It is not a cold, lifeless trust, but a good, 
bold, hearty venture on Christ. I cannot doubt the truth of my 
Lord ; I can as soon doubt his divinity as his truth ; I can as 
soon doubt his Godhead as his veracity. " What preparation," 
says one, " is necessary?" "What things soever ye desire 
when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have 
them." God cannot lie. I will die rather than doubt my God. 
God is not a man, that he should lie. The devil does not care 
a rush for a Christian believing that God is able, willing, wait- 
ing, and anxious to sanctify the soul. Nor does he care for him 
believing that God will do it some time. No ; it is faith in the 
present tense that the devil dreads, — believing that God does 
just now do it. This simply and fully taking God at his word is 
the great spell. Come, my dear brother ! come, my dear sister ! 
don't be afraid to step into the sea to Jesus, as Peter did. Hark! 
he bids you meet him. Now step (so to speak) on the naked 
promise, and the Spirit and the blood will fully cleanse. If ever 
my God was here, he is here now. Touch the promise — touch 
the hem of his garment ! I know some of you are touching. 
He is saving some of you ; I know my God is saving some of 
you. Let your inmost soul cry out — 

" 'T is done : thou dost this moment save ; 
With full salvation bless ! 
Redemption through thy blood I have, 
And spotless love and peace." 

" What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye 
receive them, and ye shall have them." 



SERMON III. 

PURIFICATION BY FAITH. 

"And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith."— 
Acts 15 : 9. 

Jesus says, " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see 
God." And Peter says, "Put no difference between us and 
them, purifying their hearts by faith." The distinction between 
these two statements is this : Jesus tells you the blessedness of 
such a state, and Peter tells you how you may obtain it — "put- 
ting no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts 
by faith." When I enter a place for a short time, I often meet 
with a great many inquiries about this doctrine of purity ; indeed, 
the number of cases have been so numerous, I have been obliged 
to refuse attention to some ; but, that I may atone for this seem- 
ing want of courtesy, I will on this occasion put my sermon in 
the shape of question and answer. I will endeavor to be con- 
versational and simple, that all may understand. 

Before I proceed, I want to ask a question or two. Now, if 
God shall set you at liberty, give you the direct witness of the 
Spirit, or purify your hearts, while I am preaching, or before I 
leave this place, will you meet me at the close of this service in 
the vestry of this chapel, to let me know it ? It does so comfort 
this poor heart of mine to know that my God is setting his seal 
to the work. My God is in this place ; he is here ; I feel him 
blessing this poor little heart ; my soul is very happy. I believe 
we shall have many hearts purified before I leave this place — 
hallelujah ! God can save all sorts of sinners, in all sorts of 
places. The Gospel can triumph anywhere out of hell — " put- 
ting no difference between them and us, purifying their hearts 
by faith." 



PURIFICATION BY FAITH. 37 

1. — Why does God purify the heart by faith? 

God has told us that he purifies the heart by faith ; and could 
we assign no other reason, this should be enough. The fact 
that God has said that he purifies the heart by faith, ought to 
satisfy us that there are the very best of reasons for such a 
course ; but is this the only reason we can assign ? I answer, 
no ; we give the two following reasons : 

1. Man was ruined by believing the devil ; and the great God 
has determined that he shall be saved by believing Him. He 
was lost by receiving the testimony of Satan, by believing the 
lie of the devil ; he can only be saved by receiving Heaven's 
testimony, by believing the truth of God. O, accursed unbelief! 
what dost thou do for man? Thou dost sink him, corrupt 
him, damn him, link him to the devil, and plunge him in the 
deeps of hell. On the contrary, faith elevates him, purifies 
him, saves him, links him to God, places him on the everlasting 
throne, and makes eternal sunshine to settle on his head. 

This doctrine distinguishes Protestantism from every spurious 
form of Christianity — from Romish Popery, German Rational- 
ism, and English Puseyism. These three corrupt forms of 
Christianity aim a deadly blow at the great doctrine of justifica- 
tion by faith. These go to mix up man's merits with the merits 
of the blood of Christ ; these place, as the ground of a sinner's 
hope, man's morality, instead of the Saviour's death. The doc- 
trine of justification by faith alone is the glory of Christianity. 
This doctrine is as old as the fall of man. It is worthy of 
remark, that on the very same day that man fell, the blessed 
God introduced the new system of salvation. In the cool of the 
evening, God walked in the garden, and said, " The seed of the 
woman shall bruise the serpent's head ;" the germ of it was 
there. The very first human spirit that entered heaven went 
there a martyribr the doctrine of justification by faith. See 
those two altars, side by side. One of them is piled up with 
the fruits of the earth ; the other is laden with a poor little strug- 
gling lamb. By the one stands Cain, the father of the deist. 
He presents his offering to God, but no response is heard, no 
fire from heaven kindles the sacrifice, and his countenance falls. 
4 



38 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

By the side of the other stands Abel, pious, meek, and humble, 
looking through the gurgling blood of the Lamb, on to the sum- 
mit of Calvary, — on to God's Lamb bearing away the world's 
guilt, — bearing away into eternal oblivion his own; and believ- 
ing he is justified by faith. It was by this doctrine of heaven 
that the Wesleys and Whitfield aroused the slumbering church, 
and awakened a half-damned world. Justification by faith is 
the glory of Protestantism. O, ye British Christians ! hold it 
fast. Let neither Romanism, Germanism, nor Puseyism rob 
you of it. Talk about it to your children, as you sit around the 
hearths of your homes ; tell it to your neighbors, as you walk by 
the way, and mingle with them in your daily calling ; preach it, 
live it, and, if necessary, die for it. It will be the salvation of 
your soul, of your family, of your country, of your world. See 
that old building there — it is a moonlight scene. . How antique 
and majestic it looks! — how venerable with age! — what a 
solemn grandeur seems thrown around it ! Draw a little nearer. 
Ah ! now you see the soft moonbeams peeping through ; light 
is gleaming through a crack here and an opening yonder. Owls 
and bats nutter about in the dim mist, and noisome things creep 
there. Ah ! it looks grand in the moonlight ; but the day dawn 
shows its old dilapidated walls — it 's a temple in ruin. See, 
see a little lad cast an acorn into its centre ! It grows silently — 
makes its way — it now pushes up its long gaunt arms, and 
spreads abroad its branches ; and, as it grows, it pushes its way 
through the mouldering walls. Ah ! there the entire building 
is tumbled down in ruins around its base, and the tree is stand- 
ing in all its glory. The little acorn is justification by faith. It 
will push its way through the old antiquated forms of Popery, 
Rationalism, and modern-dressed Puseyism. These will all fall 
in ruins around the base of this tree. The crash may be loud, 
and earth and hell may roar as though its very foundations had 
given way, and even heaven may seem to tremble at the shock ; 
but w T hen not a vestige of the old temple is standing, the tree 
will bloom in all its glory. 

2. Faith secures all the glory to God. Yonder is a mighty 
mountain. See, there 's a man hastening on to it ; he is now 



PURIFICATION BY FAITH. 39 

walking in its dark shadow; he has in his hand a little rod — 
it looks but a simple little thing. At the base of that mountain 
there is a great camp of people, about a million and a half, per- 
ishing for water. Hark, how the cattle bleat ! How intensely- 
hot the atmosphere — how glaring and burning the rays of the 
sun ! Scarcely^ a blade of grass is to be seen — everything 
seems to droop and die. See, see how they are lying in groups, 
men, women, and children, dying for water! Hark! did you 
hear that awful moan, borne along on the sighing winds ? Ah ! 
it was the last groan of a perishing mortal. O ! how fearful is 
a famine of water ! But see, see, there 's the man with his little 
rod, standing by the side of a great rock ! He lifts his little rod, 
and strikes once, twice, three times: — the stream of water is 
gushing out ; it rolls down the mountain side, and runs through 
the camp. They are saved. Now, if God had given Moses a 
great sledge-hammer, and he had gone to the rock, pulled off his 
coat, and commenced work, the people would have said, " See 
what arms, what muscle, he has ! There 's power, there 's strength. 
He knows the fissures of the rock — ah ! he knows where to 
strike. He has saved the people. Glory be to Moses ! " But 
nobody, looking at the little insignificant rod, would say, glory 
be to Moses, but, glory be to God, the God of Moses, who doth 
all things well. So it is in the doctrine of salvation by faith — 
it secures all the glory to God. The poor, trembling, agitated 
penitent at the foot of Calvary, when his guilt is washed away 
by the hallowed stream ; when his troubled spirit is hushed into 
a calm ; when the fearful storm of wrath is past, and the sun- 
shine of heavenly peace opens upon his soul; when his soul 
bathes in the noontide love of God shed on him from Calvary's 
cross ; when he slakes his thirst at the stream that rolls from the 
throne ; when that memorable sentence of Jesus, " It is finished," 
comes rushing, rushing on his ear, borne down on the winds of 
eighteen centuries, — he listens to it, believes it, and is saved by 
it ; then he cries, Glory be to God ! The people of God, as they 
gaze on and see a fellow-mortal born a second time, cry, Glory 
be to God ! The angels, who love to linger over such places, — 
places where sinners are saved, — as they see the first gushings 



40 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

of a renewed heart, as they see the streaming upturned eyo 
fixed on Jesus, they cry, Glory be to God ! The seraphim, the 
cherubim, the archangels, join in the chorus ; the song widens 
and swells on from choir to choir — from rank to rank ; it sweeps 
the outskirts of creation ; now as soft as music of Eolia's harp — 
now in mighty thunderings — sounding forth from the trembling 
voice of the newly pardoned sinner to the fairest son of the 
morning, Glory to God in the highest — a sinner saved by grace ! 
and every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and 
under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in 
them, heard I saying, " Blessing, and honor, and glory, and 
power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the 
Lamb, for ever and ever." The glory is secured to God. 

II. — What is faith ? 

I answer, a divine conviction of the realities of eternity ; a 
mental discernment of the invisible things of which the Bible 
speaks ; the mental eye piercing through the clouds that hang 
between time and eternity ; an eye looking back and seeing in 
the centre of the world's history, on the summit of Calvary, the 
Son of God dying for man ; an eye that looks up and sees the 
everlasting God upon the throne of the universe governing all 
that is ; sees Jesus as man's mediator, standing at the right 
hand of the Majesty on high, with his reeking wounds, fresh, as 
it were, from Calvary, as a lamb newly slain, pleading for sin- 
ners ; sees heaven with all its glory, hell with all its agonies, 
its horrors, its boundless woes. Eternity, in all its solemn and 
vast dimensions, — in its unbegun, unfading, limitless duration, — 
an eye looking onwards to death, judgment, to eternity ; and all 
the consequences pending upon life's choice, spreading their 
influence over a boundless future. Indeed, faith is said to be 
the substance of things hoped for : in the language of another, 
not the fugitive shadow of a dream, or transient ignis-fatuus 
dancing along the horizon of our vision ; not exactly the things 
themselves, but the substance of them, which the long arm of 
faith can reach, even across the ocean of time ; and that sub- 
stance, too, so much better adapted to our present state of being 
than " the things hoped for," it is angels' food, incarnated, 



PURIFICATION BY FAITH. 41 

materialized for man ; an aliment for his triune nature. When 
the soul reaches out its arm into eternity, and feels in the palm 
of its God for a child's portion, it always brings it home in a 
substance to which all the senses and yearnings of human nature 
may sit down to feast. It never makes a journey to heaven 
without bringing back some choice things for each of the spiritual 
senses. To the sight it daguerreotypes on the mental eye the 
great city of God, the new Jerusalem, with its golden streets, its 
foundation-stones of celestial water, its gates of pearl, the great 
white throne, the robes and ranks of the heavenly host, the river 
of life, the visions of indescribable magnificence. To another 
sense it spreads out the marriage supper of the Lamb, and fruits 
and flowers of immortal taste and bloom. To the ear it brings 
the melody of the golden harps, the strain of angel anthems. In 
short, it creates a heaven for every sense, and sets the whole 
family of them a-longing for it, and then feeds them with the 
substance of things hoped for. But is this saving faith — justi- 
fying faith ? I answer, no ; saving faith may be included under 
two heads. 

1. Assent: assent to such truths as the following: — "He 
died for our sins, and rose again for our justification." " I am 
he that blotteth out thy sins." " Who is made unto us wisdom, 
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." 

2. Trust : and trust may be defined as of a two-fold character. 
Says one, " I trust I shall be saved some time, — to-morrow, next 
year, on a dying bed." " I think," says another, " that none can 
be saved till a dying hour ; I trust I shall be saved then." The 
trust connected with salvation is a trust in the merits of Christ 
for a present salvation, — an enlightened, hearty, bold trust in 
Christ just now, — exclaiming, with confidence, with the eye 
fixed on Calvary, on the dying Saviour, " Lord thou canst, thou 
wilt, thou DOST save." 

" What, then," asks the penitent sinner, " must I believe, in 
order to obtain pardon and purity ? " I answer, you have it in 
these words, " He is the propitiation for our sins ; and not for 
ours only, but for the sins of the whole world." " What is the 
meaning of a propitiation ? " I answer, a covering. He covered 
4* 



42 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

them, suffered for them, bore them, bore them away ; as the 
Bible says, " He bore our sins in his own body on the tree." 
Now, one thing is clear as light, — if he bore them, suffered for 
them, died for them, you need not bear them, suffer for them, die 
for them. " But, did he suffer enough? or, in other words, was 
the atonement complete ? " Listen to God's word on this sub- 
ject — Heb. 9: 25, 26, — "Nor yet that he should offer himself 
often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year 
with the blood of others. For then must he often have suffered 
since the foundation of the world ; but now, once in the end of 
the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of 
himself." Do you, then, understand what he did for you when 
he died — that he satisfied the claims of a violated law, of 
insulted justice, for your sins ? " But w r as this satisfaction com- 
plete — was God satisfied ? Did he suffer enough ? " I answer, 
this sacrifice was so complete that it cannot be mended. It was 
a more complete satisfaction than you could have made, if you 
had suffered in hell-fire a whole eternity. Yea, if all the angels 
were to come down from heaven and cover the hill of Calvary 
with crosses, and each one die as a sacrifice for your sins, they 
could not add one whit to the completeness of the atonement 
Christ made when he bowed his head and died. Then he suf- 
fered enough to save you. A minister once said to a broken- 
hearted woman, smiting on her breast, and groaning for salva- 
tion, " My friend, do you believe that Jesus, when he died on 
the tree, suffered enough for you, or would you have him to 
suffer a little more ? " " ! no, sir, he suffered enough — - he 
suffered enough." " Did he ? did he ? " said the minister. 
" Yes," said the woman ; and as she believed it, her whole 
countenance changed, peace overflowed her heart, the great 
change was effected. Now, I ask you, do you believe that Jesus 
suffered enough for you ? You cannot understand it, believe it, 
trust in it, and not be saved. " But," says the sinner, " did the 
Father accept of the death of Christ as an atonement for my 
sins ? " I answer, was it not the burning love in the Father's 
heart that led him to give his Son to die ? As the Bible says, 
" God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, 



PURIFICATION BY FAITH. 43 

that whosoever believeth on him shall not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life." Blessed words ! they should be written in letters 
of gold, in letters of light ; should be hung up in your bedrooms ; 
written up in every public way, that passing sinners may read 
them ; engrave them on your hearts. Then, it was the Father's 
own appointment that the Son should die ? Do you want fur- 
ther proof that the Father accepted it ? Go and stand by the 
tomb in the rock : the Son of God is laid a corpse in that tomb ; 
all is quiet ; twice the sun has gone down upon that tomb ; the 
murdered Saviour sleeps quietly ; the seal is unbroken ; the 
starlight gleams upon the spears of the rude soldiers, as they 
watch the sepulchre ; the morning star ushers in the first rays 
of golden day ; and all is yet still as death. See ! see ! that 
bright light aloft — how beautiful! how soft! how unlike an 
earthly light ! — it comes rushing, rushing down — it is an holy 
angel ! How those soldiers start ! — how pale they look ! — 
what ! hath death blanched their countenances ? The angel heeds 
them not ; he snaps the seal ; with one bound he rolls away the 
stone. Come, weeping sinner — come, saints, and look in upon 
the slain Lord ! 

"Come, saints, and drop a tear or two, 
On the dear bosom of your God ; 
He shed a thousand drops for you, 
A thousand drops of richer blood. 
But lo ! what sudden joys I see ! 
Jesus the dead revives again ; 
The rising God forsakes his tomb ; 
The tomb in vain forbids his rise, 
Cherubic legions guard him home, 
And shout him welcome to the skies." 

Here 's a proof that the Father hath accepted the atonement. 
He hath, by raising up Jesus Christ from the dead, furnished an 
unanswerable proof to earth, to heaven, to hell, to the universe, 
that the great atoning work was complete. 0, how the love of 
God shines out in the gift of Christ ; how it pervades every part 
of redemption ! It says, in language louder than thunder, 
" Mercy 's free." 

In Ireland, a grayheaded and pious father had a very wicked 



44 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

son. The old man had often prayed and wrestled with God on 
his behalf; "but he became worse and worse. Never, I believe, 
did that father close his doors against the returning prodigal. 
Some of his neighbors, one day, addressed the father, with con- 
siderable severity, saying, " Why harbor that reprobate son of 
yours? why don't you turn him out of doors, and banish him 
from your house ? " 

" Ay, ay," said the aged saint, his gray locks trembling with 
emotion, " you can all turn him out, but his own father." It 
may be, penitent sinner, you have long been a rebel, and years have 
passed away while the long-suffering of God has borne with you. 
Now, if all the devils were to say, turn him out, — yea, if all the 
saints on earth, and all the angels in heaven, were to say to the 
merciful God, " Why dost thou not turn that reprobate son of 
thine out of doors, and banish him from thy house?" — the bowels 
of divine compassion would say, " Ay, ay, you can all turn 
him out of doors, but his own father." Now, why should you 
not believe, and this moment rejoice in God ? I will press home 
this matter, and bring you to the test. I ask, do you believe that 
Jesus, by his death, completely satisfied God for every sin 
you have committed; that the Father accepted the death of 
Christ as an atonement ? " 0," you say, " I dare not doubt that ; 
if I did, a thousand voices from the Bible would condemn me." 
Then hold fast that truth. I have a passage of God's word to 
present to you. Eemember God hath spoken it ; moreover, it is a 
passage that you cannot believe without being saved. As sure 
as the Bible is not a lie, and God is true, you will have salva- 
tion, if you believe it. You will find it in the first epistle of 
John, i : 7, — " The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us 
from all sin." It does not say that God has cleansed you from 
sin in time past. You may believe that, and not be saved. It 
does not say that he will cleanse you in some time to come ; but 
that he doeth it, — cleanseth, — that is the word, in the present 
tense. Again, I ask, do you believe it ? If you do, you are 
saved. If you are not saved, you do not believe it. O ! why 
doubt ? why dishonor God ? why make him a liar ? 



PURIFICATION BY FAITH. 45 

" O ! believe the record true, 

God to you his Son hath given ; 
Ye may now be happy too, 

Find on earth the life of heaven. 

" Believe in him that died for thee ; 
And sure as he has died, 
Thy debt is paid, thy soul is free, 
And thou art justified." 

Every blessing is thine by faith, — not only pardon, but purity 
and heaven — " putting no difference between them and us, 
purifying their hearts by faith." 

III. What is the difference between faith and knowl- 
edge ? 

I answer, faith and knowledge are distinct ; they certainly do 
not mean one and the same thing. We will try to make this 
plain. A man promises you one hundred pounds to-morrow at 
twelve o'clock, — exactly at twelve o'clock, — on condition that 
you meet him. precisely at that time on the Exchange. The man 
is an honest man, and you have full confidence in his word. As 
you are retiring to bed you say, " To-morrow at twelve o'clock I 
shall have one hundred pounds." The morning comes, and the 
clock strikes eight; "In four hours more I shall have the 
one hundred pounds." Ten o'clock arrives, and you exclaim, 
" In two hours more the one hundred pounds will be mine." 
Ten minutes to twelve o'clock finds you on your way to the 
Exchange. As you see the man waiting for you, you say, " Ah ! 
I thought you would keep your word." The gentleman, accord- 
ing to promise, gives you the check for the one hundred pounds. 
" Ah ! " say you, " I have faith in your word." 

"Faith, man!" replies the gentleman; "you have the 
check ; read for yourself; you no longer believe, but know you 
have what was promised ; it is not faith, but knowledge." 
It was faith at eight o'clock, at ten o'clock, at ten minutes 
to twelve o'clock ; but the very moment you received the 
check, it was faith no longer, but knowledge. Ah ! I know 
the reason why you wish to confound these two things — why 
you ask what difference is there between faith and know]- 



46 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

edge. It is because you wish to feel first, and believe afterwards. 
But there is a distinction between the two, and faith must pre- 
cede knowledge. Why are you afraid to trust God for the ful- 
filment of his word ? You put confidence in the word of fallible 
man. You are not afraid to risk your wealth, your health, even 
your life, on the word of a fallible human creature. Why, then, 
do you want to receive the gift of God, and then believe after- 
wards ? 

Did ever God deceive you ? Did he ever deceive, in one sin- 
gle case, since the world began ? Did he ever deceive the phi- 
losopher, in any one of the laws relating to time ? Have not 
like effects followed like causes through the whole history of 
time, and around the entire globe ? Every time nature has been 
put to the test, she has given a faithful response ; and the God 
of the system of creation is the God of the economy of grace. 
Did God ever deceive a penitent sinner? Has one ever trusted 
in Christ, and not been saved ? Can infidels point to one case in 
the past six thousand years ? We defy them to do it. When, 
then, you find out that heat won't expand, that cold won't con- 
tract, that fire won't burn, that poison won't kill, that bodies won't 
gravitate towards their centre, that light does not follow the 
rising sun, — then, you may begin to fear that a penitent may 
trust in Christ and not be saved. God is as true in grace as in 
nature ; yea, though the heavens and the earth may pass away, 
not one jot or tittle of his word will fall to the ground. He has 
magnified his word above all his name. 

IV. What degrees of fajth are necessary to Salvation ? 

I answer, I do not know, because God has nowhere said in 
his book how much, or how little, a man must have in order to 
be saved. He has, however, said, that he will not break a 
bruised reed, nor quench a smoking flax. He has said, " If ye 
have faith as a grain of mustard-seed (and that is small enough), 
and shall say to this mountain, be thou cast into the sea, and 
shall not doubt in your heart, but shall believe that those things 
which he saith shall come to pass, ye shall have whatsoever he 
saith." I do not mean to say that you must understand and 



PURIFICATION BY FAITH. 47 

believe every truth in the Bible, in order to be saved ; but I do 
say you must understand what Christ did for you when he died 
on the cross ; and you must understand and trust in his sacrifi- 
cial death. If the blessing you are seeking is purity, then your 
faith must rise high enough to embrace the Saviour, not only as 
your wisdom and righteousness, but as your sanctification. 

What, then, are you waiting for? Are you still looking for 
something in yourself to recommend you to Jesus ? What a 
legal creature you are ! You need not wait for any further 
preparation; though your faith be but like a grain of mustard- 
seed, it will hurl mountains out of your way. It will secure to 
you all the tremendous glories hid under that little word "saved." 
" What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye 
receive them, and ye shall have them." I believe as firmly in 
the truth of God's promise as in his Godhead — in the faithful- 
ness of Christ's word as in his divinity. Many of you say, " I 
believe that he is able and willing, and willing now, to save ;" 
and just there you stop, and, stopping there, you stop short of 
salvation. You must trust in Christ for a present salvation. 

Why, then, do you tarry longer ? Why do you doubt ? What 
can you wish for in Christ that is not in him ? Is it power and 
greatness ? — All power is in his hands : he rolls along the stars ; 
he balances the motions of the planets ; he commands the sun ; 
storms howl or hush at his word; lightnings do his bidding; and 
all hell stands in awe of him. Is it greatness ? — He is the Most 
High ; greater than Moses ; greater than Solomon ; and e,ven 
the bright forms of angels are thrown into the shade, when com- 
pared with him. Is it humility and tenderness? — He wore a 
servant's form ; his ear was never closed to a tale of woe, and 
the veriest outcast was never refused by him ; "Jesus wept." 
Is it wisdom? — In him dwelleth all the treasures of knowledge 
and wisdom. Is it durability? — He is the same yesterday, to- 
day, and forever ; when all other lights are dimmed with age, 
when the sun of every other sky is blotted out, this light will 
shine out in unclouded splendor, this sun will shine on forever 
and ever. Everything you need is in him. I ask, why, then, 
do you doubt ? Why mistrust him ? Why cast a shade on his 



48 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

glorious redeeming work ? In this little simple instrument, this 
grain of mustard-seed, slumbers a tremendous power. It is the 
key that opens the treasures of the Godhead ; it lets in on the 
souls of men all the mighty energy of truth. God has put a 
power in his word — "All things are possible to him that be- 
lieves." "As a will conveys an immense fortune," says the 
Kev. J. Fletcher, " and a death-warrant a capital punishment, 
so does the word of God convey unsearchable riches of Christ 
to obedient believers, and the dreadful punishment of the damned 
to obstinate unbelievers. I readily grant that a bank-note is not 
gold ; that a will is not an estate, and that a death-warrant is 
not the gallows ; nevertheless, so strong is the connection between 
these seemingly insignificant signs and the important things 
which they signify, that none but fools will throw away the 
bank-notes, or the will of their friends, as waste paper, — none 
but madmen will sport with a death-warrant as with a play-bill. 
Now, if the written word of men, who, through forgetfulness, 
often break their engagements, can, nevertheless, have such 
force, how exceedingly fool-hardy are sinners that disregard the 
word of the King of kings, who cannot lie ! — the proclamation 
of the God of truth, with whom no work is impossible ! — the 
will and testament of the Almighty, who says, ' Heaven and 
earth shall pass away, but not one jot of my word shall fall to 
the ground !' Let but the general speak, and an army marches 
up, through clouds of smoke, and flames of fire, and volleys of 
iron balls, to form a heap of dead bodies. An admiral gives the 
word of command, — it may be hoisting the flag, — and a fleet is 
under sail. Artificial clouds and thunders are formed over the 
sea; the billows seem to mingle with fire; and the king of 
terrors flies from deck to deck, in the most dreadful and bloody 
forms. If such is the power of the word of man, who is but a 
worm, how almighty must be the word of God ! " 

There is a power in the word of God, to startle, to awaken, to 
convince. The bodily eye does not see those eternal realities ; 
the ear does not hear the sounds of the spirit world ; but let 
faith look calmly, and get a distinct view of the realities of 
eternity. Come, draw aside the curtain for a moment, and look 



PURIFICATION BY FAITH. 49 

in on the regions of hell. There no pleasure, no friendship, no 
love, enters ; before them hope never blooms, and to them mercy 
never comes ; on them the Sabbath never dawns. Indeed, their 
" sun of mercy has set in blushing- sorrows at their sins ; their 
day of grace has closed upon them forever. No sound of 
mercy, no; sigh of sympathy, will ever soothe their bitter woe. 
They neglected the great salvation ; they believed not the truth ; 
they knew not God ; they died in their sins ; they denied the 
Lord that bought them. He called — they refused; they would 
not hear, and he ceased to call; they would not look to him, and 
he ceased to beckon. Their guardian angel, who, by divine 
appointment, shielded their thoughtless charge from their ghostly 
enemies, sighed and left them ; and the devil and his angels 
laughed a horrible grin of triumph, and dragged their struggling 
victim down, to darkness, fire, and pains, — while saints and 
angels mourned, and said, 'the precious soul is lost, forever 
lost.' But when the guilty spirit was driven away, in his wick- 
edness, those who wetted the parched lips, watched the dying 
gasp, and heard the last, last groan, saw not the seizure of the 
guilty spirit, when it was delivered over to the tormentors, who 
hauled it away from earth, and friends, and mercy, to cast it 
into hell ; the attendant in the chamber of death heard not the 
departed spirit plunge into that lake that burns with fire and 
brimstone. No! it was a disembodied spirit that fell. The 
bonds of iniquity, and the chains of sin, were not heard to 
clank, when the unsaved spirit fell down from the high precipice 
of mercy, into the lake of fire. Not a sound was heard, — it was 
all the silence of death. Only those ears which death had 
opened could hear the angry tempest, and the storms of wrath, 
which raise the raging billows on the lake of fire, and dash 
with burning fury on their guilty souls. However loud the 
thunder may roar among the gloomy caverns in those regions of 
horror and vengeance, we cannot hear the sound thereof. How- 
ever bright may be the flashes of the lightnings of divine wrath, 
darting across the deep glooms of hell, we cannot see them. 
Let faith look through the gates of hell, — shut, forever shut ! — 
and see those countless multitudes of lost souls, enduring the 
5 



50 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

stings of awakened, guilty consciences ; and, oh ! what anguish 
can be compared to that of a spirit, when it thus grovels in 
shame, rouses in fury, lowers in disappointment, pines in 
jealousy, stagnates in apathy, crouches in fear, and congeals 
in despair ! What arrows could be so sharp ? What poisons so 
deadly ? The past burning in light to its remembrance, and 
yet yields no ray ; consciousness filling up its solitude, yet finds 
no rest ; alone with its thoughts and reproaches, surrounded by 
others alike wretched, having no secret, explored and covered 
with shame, when there is nothing it loves, and nothing that 
loves it." Let faith, we say, look through the infernal gates, 
and get a distinct view of these fearful realities ; or take the 
doctrine of the glories of heaven, or the great atonement, and 
view them in all their bearings on its interests, and how power- 
ful will be the faithful vision, in its influence on the soul ! Thus 
faith derives power from its objects — objects compared with 
which earth is an atom, time a moment, and the present uni- 
verse a passing shadow. 

Do you want a proof of the power of faith? Read the 
eleventh chapter of Hebrews ; there you will see its amazing 
effects. Do you want a proof of the power of faith ? Look up 
among the blessed, — survey their dignity, their purity, their 
glory, — and remember it was by faith they were justified, puri- 
fied, preserved, — by faith they entered heaven. 

We have considered why God saves by faith, the nature of 
faith, the difference between faith and knowledge, the amaz- 
ing power of faith. Now, we ask, penitent sinner, do you 
believe for pardon ? Those of you who are seeking the witness 
of the Spirit, and purity of heart, are you believing for the 
blessing you need ? My God is in this place. He is purifying 
some of your hearts. "What things soever ye desire when ye 
pray," &c. 

Unconverted man, do you believe in the great verities of 
religion ? You are shut up to the faith, or to damnation! Two 
ways open before you — faith, that leads to Calvary and heaven; 
and unbelief, that leads to hell. You are shut up to one or the 
other of these. You may tremble between the two, and refuse 



PURIFICATION BY FAITH. 61 

to decide, but death will soon decide for you. You are on the 
narrow ridge of sand, and the waves of time are silently, but 
surely, washing it away, sand by sand. You cannot occupy 
your present position long. A decision will soon be imperative 
upon you. Procrastination may prove destruction ; delay may 
be death. Spurn the allurements which entice you from your 
Saviour; burst the fetters which bind you; lift your eye to 
Calvary; believe and live. 

Says a late writer, when appealing to sinners : — " On a part 
of the British coast, where beetling cliffs, from three to five 
hundred feet in height, overhang the ocean, some individuals, 
during a certain season of the year, obtain a solitary livelihood 
by collecting the eggs of rock-birds, and gathering samphire. 
The way in which they pursue this hazardous calling is as fol- 
lows : — The man drives an iron crow-bar securely into the 
ground, about a yard from the edge of the precipice. To that 
crow-bar he makes fast a rope, of which he then lays hold. He 
next slides gently over the cliff, and lowers himself till he 
reaches the ledges and crags, where he expects to find the 
object of his pursuit. To gain these places is sometimes a dif- 
ficult task; and when they fall within the perpendicular, the 
only method of accomplishing it is for the adventurer to swing 
in the air, till, by dexterous management, he can so balance 
himself as to reach the spot on which he wishes to descend. A 
basket, made for the purpose, and strapped between the shoul- 
ders, contains the fruit of his labor ; and when he has filled the 
basket, or failed in the attempt, he ascends, hand over hand, to 
the summit. On one occasion, a man who was thus emplo3 r ed, 
in gaining a narrow ledge of rock, which was overhung by a 
higher portion of the cliff, secured his footing, but let go the 
rope. He at once perceived his peril. No one could come to 
Irs rescue, or even hear his cries. The fearful alternative 
immediately flashed on his mind : it was, being starved to 
death, or dashed to pieces four hundred feet below ! On turn- 
ing round, he saw the rope he had quitted, but it was far away. 
As it swung backwards and forwards, its long vibrations testified 
the mighty efforts by which he had reached the deplorable pre- 



52 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

dicament in which he stood. He looked at the rope in agony. 
He had gazed but a little while, when he noticed that every 
movement was shorter than the one preceding, so that each time 
it came the nearest, as it was gradually subsiding to a point of 
rest, it was a little further off than it had been the time before. 
He briefly reasoned thus : — ' That rope is my only chance of 
life ; in a little while it will be forever beyond my reach ; it is 
nearer now than it ever will be again; I can but die; here 
goes ! ' So saying, he sprang from the cliff, as the rope was 
next approaching, caught it in his grasp, and went home rejoic- 
ing." Sinner, you tremble at this incident ; believe me, yours 
is greater peril ! Beneath you yawns the lake, that burneth 
with fire and brimstone ; stand where you are, you cannot; time 
will force you thence. Salvation is set before you ; it is as near, 
perhaps nearer now, than ever it will be again ; lay hold of it ; 
cling to it with the firmness of a death grasp. This is your 
only chance of safety ; and it is not a chance alone ; it is a cer- 
tainty — a glorious certainty; and the only danger is, that, 
refusing to embrace it, you will defer escape until it becomes 
impossible. Then, make that plunge at once ; beneath you are 
the everlasting arms ; believe, and feel his purifying power. 



SERMON IV. 



THE FEAR OF DEATH DESTROYED BY A SIGHT OF CHRIST. 



And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death 
before he had seen the Lord's Christ. — Luke 2 : 26. 



Bless the Lord ! my soul is very happy this morning ; all is 
serene and beautiful. All is calm and sunshine within. 

<: Not a cloud doth arise, to darken the skies ; 
Or hide, for a moment, my God from my eyes." 

Hallelujah ! my soul is very happy. My feelings were of an 
awful character, whilst preaching to you last evening, from that 
solemn passage of God's word, " Because I have called, and ye 
refused," &c. I felt I had a message from God to some persons 
in the congregation, and I believe it was a message of life and 
death with them; it was salvation or damnation. I believe 
a rejection of God's offer of mercy would speedily have sealed 
their doom ; but they are here in this congregation this morn- 
ing, and they may be saved this day. I believe they will be 
saved ere the sun shall again go down, — ere we leave this 
house. 

Our text is a joyful exclamation of a venerable old saint, upon 
seeing the Lord's Christ. It seems that when his eyes once 
looked upon Jesus, he never wished them to gaze on aught 
more on earth. Hence he exclaimed, " Now, Lord, lettest thou 
thy servant depart in peace." We remark — 

I. That God always honors pre-eminently devoted men. 

" Them that honor me," saith the Lord, " will I honor." 
Again, " The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him." 
If you attentively observe the history of men who have risen far 
5* 



54 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

above the common standard of Christian experience, men of 
eminent piety, you will generally find that such men are signally 
honored of God by some remarkable interpositions of Providence, 
by some special answers to prayer, by the bestowment of some 
gift, or by being rendered instrumental in the salvation of mul- 
titudes of immortal souls. These remarks could be borne out by 
a reference to the lives of holy men. With Abraham God con- 
versed as a man with his friend, and when about to destroy 
Sodom, the matter was revealed to Abraham. Joseph was made 
the saviour of a nation. Moses was called up to Sinai to com- 
mune with the Deity for forty days. What a shield did God 
hold over David ; truly he was immortal till his work was done. 
Enoch and Elijah were taken to heaven without dying. An 
angel descended with Daniel into the lions' den to shut their 
mouths. A form like the Son of God is seen walking in the 
fiery furnace with the three Hebrew youths, so that the smell 
of fire does not pass upon them. Paul is saved in a storm at 
sea, while the waves were commissioned to dash to pieces the 
vessel ; and an angel stands by him on the deck, and Paul's life 
is spared, and the lives of the whole crew are given to him. 
We might refer, you to Wesley, Whitefield, Bramwell, Smith, 
and a long list of others, and in some way or another God has 
specially honored every one of them. We have a case in point 
in our text. The time had come when the great Messiah was 
about to appear in the world, and this great fact God reveals to 
Simeon. It was revealed to him that he should not see death 
till he had seen the Lord's Christ. Undevout minds are too 
worldly, too apathetic, too dull, to hear the secret whispering of 
heaven. 'Tis the spiritual ear alone that can hear the still small 
voice that comes across the universe from the spirit world — 't is 
the spiritual eye alone that reads the secrets of eternity, that 
sees passing in review before it the realities of the hidden 
state. Some simple-hearted Christians were once returning 
from chapel ; they had been to hear the holy Bramwell preach. 
One of them said to the other, " How is it that Mr. Bramwell 
has always something new to tell us ? " 

" Ah ! " said the other, " I can tell you how it is ; he lives very 



FEAR OF DEATH DESTROYED BY CHRIST. 55 

much nearer the gates of heaven than many of us, and God tells 
him things he does not tell other people." 

And so it was with Simeon. He lived very much nearer the 
gates of heaven than many of his day ; and God honored him by 
telling him this great fact. It was revealed unto Simeon that 
he should not see death till he had seen the Lord's Christ. 

II. Simeon was a man of pre-eminent devotedness to 
God. 

" And, behold," say the scriptures, " there was a man in Jeru- 
salem whose name was Simeon." Observes an eminent divine, 
" No doubt there were many persons in Jerusalem named Simeon, 
besides this man, but there was none of the name who merited 
the attention of God so much as he in the text." There are 
four things said about him in the text, every one of which is an 
evidence of his great devotedness. It is said of him that he was 
just, devout, that he waited for the consolation of Israel, and that 
the Holy Ghost was upon him. He had been reconciled to God. 
This is assumed, for without this there would have been no 
devotedness, no waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the 
Holy Ghost never would have rested upon him. He believed 
the divine promise, and therefore waited for the consolation of 
Israel. He was devout, — his soul went up in earnest prayer 
and thanksgiving to God, — and the Holy Ghost was upon him. 
See what a beautiful gradation is here. Just man, just before 
God, justified through the blood of the Lamb. Just before men 
in all his actions, thus proving to the world that he was justified 
before God. A right heart and a right life. Devout, not a 
religion of mere forms and ceremonies, but devoutness of soul 
waiting for all the fulness of Christ ; and then the great crown- 
ing point, the Holy Ghost resting upon him, attesting the divine 
approval, aiding him in his devotedness, guiding him in the 
temple to see the Lord's Christ. You cannot dispense with one 
of these elements from eminent piety, reconciliation, devoutness, 
a waiting upon God, and the possession of the Holy Ghost. O ! 
what a sublime spectacle is a devout man, — a man in audience 
with the Deity, — a man breathing his thoughts, and those 



5t5 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

thoughts being taken up into the thoughts of the great God, — 
a man on whom the gaze of Infinite Holiness is fixed with 
supreme delight, — a man standing on the mount of communion, 
catching the warblings of the triumphant church, exclaiming, 

" I hear, or dream I hear, the distant strain, 
Sweet to the soul, and tasting strong of heaven." 

Than a man in communion with God, there is no sight on 
earth, nor in heaven, more sublime. A virtuous man said, a phi- 
losopher is the noblest work of God ; but we would rather say, a 
Christian — a devout man — is the noblest work of God. Such 
a man is God's jewel, his friend; 'tis with him God delights to 
dwell ; 't is to him God will tell his secrets ; on him confer his 
richest honors. Simeon was such a man ; God honored him by 
telling him the great fact, that before death should close his 
eyes, he should see the Lord's Christ. 

III. — That though Simeon was an eminently devoted 

MAN, HE HAD GREAT DISCOURAGEMENT EST OBTAINING A SIGHT OF 
THE OBJECT HE SO EXTREMELY DESIRED. 

What Simeon wanted was to see the Lord's Christ. Unbelief 
would suggest to him, " Simeon, you are an old man ; your day 
is almost ended ; the snow of age is upon your head ; your eyes 
are growing dim, your brow is wrinkled, your limbs totter, and 
death cannot be at a great distance, and where are the signs of 
his coming ? You are resting, Simeon, on a phantom of the 
imagination — it is all a delusion." 

" No," replies Simeon, " I shall not see death till I have seen 
the Lord's Christ. Yes, I shall see him before I die." 

But unbelief would again suggest, " Remember, Simeon, many 
holy men have desired to see the Lord's Christ, but have died 
without the sight ; men quite as holy as you are, who did ser- 
vice for God such as you have never done ; and how do you sup- 
pose that you will be permitted to see the great Messiah ? " 

" Yes," says Simeon, " I shall see the Lord's Christ. These 
eyes will not be dimmed by the shadows of death till I have seen 



FEAR OF DEATH DESTROYED BY CHRIST. 57 

him; God has said the word, and I shall see him for myself; 
mine eyes shall behold him, and not another." 

I imagine I see Simeon walking out, on a fine morning, along 
one of the lovely vales of Palestine, meditating on the great sub- 
ject that filled his mind. He is met by one of his friends — 
" Peace be with you ; have you heard the strange news ? " 

" What news ? " replied Simeon. 

" Do you not know Zacharias the Priest?" 

" Yes, well." 

" According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to 
burn incense in the temple of the Lord, and the whole multitude 
of the people were praying without. It was the time of incense, 
and there appeared unto him an angel standing on the right side 
of the altar of incense, and told him that he should have a son, 
whose name should be called John ; one who should be great in 
the sight of the Lord, who should neither drink wine nor strong 
drink, and ne should be filled with the Holy Ghost from his 
infancy, and that he should go before the Messiah in the spirit 
and power of Elias, to turn many of the people of Israel to the 
Lord, and make ready a people prepared for the Lord. The 
angel was Gabriel, that stands in the presence of God ; and 
because he believed not the angel, he was struck dumb." 

" Ah ! " says Simeon, " that is an exact fulfilment of the proph- 
ecy of Malachi (4: 5, 6). This is the messenger of the Lord, 
to prepare the way — this is the forerunner — this is the morn- 
ing star ; the day dawn is not far off — the great Messiah is on 
his way — is nigh at hand. I shall not see death till I have 
seen the Lord's Christ. Hallelujah! the Lord shall suddenly 
come to his temple." 

Simeon ponders these things in his heart, and time rolls on. 
I imagine I see Simeon again on his morning meditative walk. 
He is again accosted by one of his neighbors — " Well, Simeon, 
have you heard the news ? " 

II What news ? " 

" Why, there 's a very singular story almost in everybody's 
mouth. A company of shepherds on the plains of Bethlehem 
were watching their flocks ; it was the still hour of night, and 



58 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

the mantle of darkness covered the world; a bright light shone 
around the shepherds, a light above the brightness of the mid- 
day sun ; they looked up, and just above them appeared an angel 
glowing in all the lovely hues of heaven. The shepherds became 
greatly terrified, and the angel said to them, ' Fear not, behold 
1 bring you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 
For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, 
which is Christ the Lord; and, as a proof of what I say, if you 
will go to Bethlehem, you will find him wrapped in swaddling 
clothes and laid in a manger.' When the angel had finished 
the story, suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host 
praising God, and saying, ' Glory to God in the highest, peace 
on earth, and good will to man.' The shepherds hastened away 
to Bethlehem, and found it just as the angel had stated. As 
they entered the stable, the rude oxen were feeding by the man- 
ger; and there stood Joseph, a quiet, harmless-looking young 
man ; there was also a lovely woman, watching with intense 
interest over an infant that lay in the manger. When they 
heaved up the cloth that covered the infant, oh, what a lovely 
face they beheld ! Never had mortal eyes gazed on so lovely a 
face as that before ! " 

" Ah ! " exclaimed Simeon, " born in Bethelem, of the line- 
age of David, — born of a virgin, and, then, just at this time, — 
the very place predicted by the prophet, — the exact time fore- 
told by Daniel, — the exact fulfilment of the predictions of Isaiah, 
— the circumstances all wonderfully agree ; and, then, the scep- 
tre was not to have departed from Judah till the Messiah should 
appear. This is the Lord's Christ. I shall not see death till I 
have seen the Lord's Christ." Then Simeon probably said to 
himself, " They will bringhim to the temple to circumcise him." 
Away went Simeon, morning after morning, to see if he could 
get a glimpse of Jesus. 

Those who are seeking Jesus will be found waiting for him 
in the temple ; 't is there he is often found. He has said, 
" Wheresoever two or three are met together in my name, there 
am I in the midst of them." It is a good thing to be found by 
the way. If the blind men had not been by the wayside, where 



FEAR OF DEATH DESTROYED BY CHRIST. 59 

the Saviour passed by, they might have remained blind forever. 
Go to the temple ; the great physician often passes by there, and 
heals the sin-sick souls. Perhaps unbelief suggested to Simeon, 
" You had better stop at home, this wet morning. You have 
been so many mornings and have not seen him, you may venture 
to be absent this once." 

" No," says the Spirit, " you must go to the temple." 
Away went Simeon to the temple. He would no doubt select 
a good post of observation. Look at him there, leaning his back 
against one of the pillars of the temple — how intently he watch- 
es the door ! He sees one mother after another bringing her 
infant to the temple to be circumcised ; he surveys the face of 
every child. " No," says he, as his eye scans the countenance, 
" that is not he, and that is not ; " but at length he sees the vir- 
gin appear, and the Spirit told him that that was the long-expect- 
ed Saviour. He grasps the child in his arms, and pressed him 
to his heart, and exclaimed, " Now, Lord, lettest thou thy servant 
depart in peace, according to thy word : for mine eyes have seen 
thy salvation." Simeon had seen Jesus, and wished at once to 
pass away to the spirit world. The one grand object of Simeon 
was to see the Lord's Christ. Between Simeon and an awak- 
ened sinner there is one point of agreement : they both desire 
to see one object — the Lord's Christ. When a sinner is 
awakened, fully aroused to a sense of his danger, around his 
mind the lightnings of divine truth flash ; in the blaze of that 
light (as the clouds break that enveloped him), he sees a bound- 
less immensity ; before him a bleak untravelled eternity ; above 
him, frowning upon him from a burning throne, a holy God; he 
sees himself sleeping on a precipice, on the crumbling edge of 
ruin, with vengeance pending ready to burst upon him, and 
flames roaring around ; while beneath him, at his feet, roll the 
waves of a burning hell ; within him, the stings of a guilty con- 
science. Hear him — "What must I do ? Whither can I fly ? 
Fly from God, I cannot, nor from myself. Which way I fly is 
hell — myself am hell — a weight, like a tremendous mountain, 
presses me down — the very glooms of death envelop me. 
What must I do ? I want help — to whom must I look ? " 



60 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

Behold, a ray of light breaks in upon him — one single, but 
bright ray. It keeps him from utter despair, it gives him a faint 
hope, it enables him tremblingly to say, " Before I see 
death, I shall see the Lord's Christ." Then, unbelief sug- 
gests, " How do you suppose that you will be permitted to see 
the Lord's Christ ? Do you think the great Jehovah, whose 
majesty almost confounds the cherubim and seraphim, — at least 
compels them to cover over their bright faces with their wings, 
and fall before his throne in deep adoration, — whose temple is 
all space, — whose arm is around all worlds, — who inhabits 
eternity, — at whose bidding the sunlights up his fire, — whose 
empire is so vast that were an angel, with the lightning's swift- 
ness, to fly in a direct line from the centre, he would not, in mil- 
lions of years, sweep the outskirts of his creation, — ' who sits 
upon the highest heavens, and sees worlds infinite dance beneath 
him as atoms in the sunbeam, — you an atom, a shade, a moth, 
a worm, a flower of the field to-day and not to-morrow, in the 
morning and not at night, not master of a moment, not a match 
for a breeze, a dream, a vapor, a shadow,' a sinner born to die, 
— how do you suppose he will show you the Lord's Christ ? " 
The awakened sinner replies : " One thing I know — I dare not 
die till I have seen the Lord's Christ. I cannot endure that 
horrid sting that gleams in Death's uplifted arm, I dare not face 
that grisly king of terrors in my sins, I cannot plunge into the 
future, till my load of guilty woe is gone. Ah ! 't is the open 
books, the terrible judgment, the awful unknown horrors that lie 
concealed in the future, — 'tis those things I cannot endure — 
that death so terrible without Christ. 'T is true, I am insignifi- 
cant, a shade, a blast, a worm ; and, what is worse, a sinner. 
'T is true, God is great, beyond even angelic conception ; but he 
humbles himself to behold the things done in heaven and on 
earth. He balances the planets in their motions ; yea, he tinges 
the wing of the little insect that buzzes for an hour in the sun- 
beam, and then yields up its existence. He paints with lovely 
hues the beautiful little flower that blooms in my path ; and is 
it not written in his book that a sparrow does not fall to the 
ground without his notice? — that he clothes the lily of the val- 



FEAR OF DEATH DESTROYED V.Y CHRIST. 61 

ley, and numbers the hairs of my head ? Then, the magnitude 
of his engagements does not overwhelm him, nor their multi- 
tude confound him. "While he is balancing the motions of the 
planets, governing the armies of heaven, and superintending the 
vast universe, he can, at the same time, bend all that attention 
to me as fully as though I was the only object of his care. He 
made me, and by some unseen, mysterious power, he bids my 
heart beat sixty times a minute, and my blood to course its way 
round my system, — he upholds my soul in life. He cares, then, 
for my body. Will he be less concerned about my soul ? Will 
he arrange all nature to minister to my bodily wants, and leave 
my soul to perish ? No — that is unlike him. Would he give 
his Bible to guide me, his Son to die for me, and his heaven for 
my eternal home, and then refuse to save me ? No — I would 
rather believe that, were he creating a new system like the solar 
system of which we form a part, and were a sinner to send up a 
cry for mercy, that, could he not attend to the two things at 
once, he would stop the work of creation till he had saved the 
sinner. He will not overlook. me — he will not leave me to 
perish. Before I see death, I shall see the Lord's Christ." 

Unbelief again suggests, "Are not your sins too great in mag- 
nitude and multitude to be forgiven ? Had you repented years 
ago, — had you sought mercy in your youthful days, when the 
Spirit of God strove with you, before you had sinned away your 
day of grace, — you might have been forgiven ; but now is not 
your day of grace forever closed ? " The sinner answers : " I 
know my sins are many ; I may as well try to number the hairs 
of my head, the sands of the ocean, or the stars of heaven, as 
number them ; and as to their magnitude, when I consider the 
extent of the law I have broken, the circumstances under which 
they were perpetrated, the Being against whom they were com- 
mitted, — when I consider that conscience lifted up its warning 
voice, that the blessed Spirit wooed, and strove, and flashed his 
light across my soul to check me, — that heaven closed up its 
doors to shut me out, — that the holy God frowned upon me, — 
that hell seemed moved from beneath to meet me, — that the 
Gospel put a torch in my hand, and led me up the hill of Cal- 
6 



62 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

vary to look upon the torn, bleeding, dying Redeemer, and 
though he cast a look upon me of the softest pity, and all his 
wounds seemed to have tongues exclaiming, ' I suffered this foi 
you ! ' — yet I sinned on still ; — when I look at these things, 1 
see my sins like mountains rising before me, the summits of which 
seem to scale the very heavens. Their stains on my soul are 
black as hell ; and there is one sin in particular that presses on 
me like a mountain weight — it seems to stand out as a "master 
sin ; it is the sin of trampling on the precious blood of Christ — 
rejecting for years the great atonement. This stamps my sin 
with a guilt that outvies the fiends of perdition. 

1 But though my sins like mountains rise, 
And swell and reach to heaven ; 
Mercy is yet above the skies — 
I still may be forgiven.' 

Jesus died for me, — not for himself, but for all, — for me. Did 
not Isaiah seem to rush on over hundreds of years, and, as he 
walked around the cross, cry with a burning heart, ' He was 
wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, the 
chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we 
are healed ' ? Did not Zechariah say, ' In that day there shall be 
a fountain opened in the house of David, and to the inhabitants 
of Jerusalem, for sin and uncleanness ' ? Does not Paul say, 
' How much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the 
eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your 
consciences from dead works to serve the living God ' ? And 
did not Jesus reiterate the united voice of inspiration when he 
said, on the cross, ' It is finished ' ? And when he, the Saviour, 
bowed his blessed head, and died, did , he not do all that was 
necessary — all that Heaven required ? Paul said it was for the 
whole world, and John said it was for all sin. If, then, he died 
for all men, he must have died for me ; if for all sin, then he 
must have died for mine. Here 's a great fact, then, to which I 
will cling as with a death grasp. Jesus died for my sins. All 
the infidels on earth, and all the devils in hell, cannot disprove 
this fact. It was for man he died. Well, I am one of that spe- 



FEAR OF DEATH DESTROYED BY CHRIST. 63 

cies. It was for the lost — I am lost ; it was for sinners — I am 
a sinner. Then I may boldly sing — 

' Who did for every sinner die, 
Hath surely died for me.' 

" But does the death of Christ reach my case ? " It reached 
the case of a Manasseh, a Saul of Tarsus, a Magdalene, a dying 
thief. ! the blood, the precious blood, of Christ! the blood of 
the great atonement ! I fancy I see its influence girdling the 
world. It can reach the case of every sinner in this chapel ; of 
every sinner in every hamlet, every town, every city, every nation, 
every continent; and, I had like to have said, if every one of those 
globes of light that gleam out upon us from the deep-blue heav- 
ens were peopled with sinners, as numerous and guilty as the 
sinners of the planet on which we live, the blood of the great 
sacrifice is efficacious enough to cleanse the whole from sin — 
enough to cleanse me. " Did he die for me ? Then he will 
not reject me — he will not cast me off forever. He has bid 
me look to him and be saved; then I shall not die till I have 
seen the Lord's Christ." 

But unbelief again suggests, " Do you suppose that the sins 
of an age can be pardoned in a moment of time — sins that have 
spread over years of your life ? Could you, by deeds of sacrifice, 
make some amends to Heaven for the deep wrongs you have 
inflicted, — could you repair the breach in the broken law, — could 
you satisfy offended justice, — make a rigid reformation, — weep 
and groan out months and years to come, — then you may hope 
to be forgiven." 

" But," replies the pleading penitent, with his tearful eye and 
anxious soul gazing towards the Saviour of sinners, " ah ! if 
that be true, if I am to wait years, ere those years shall have 
rolled round, my body may be slumbering in the cold grave, and 
my soul buried deep in the grave of a burning hell. But salva- 
tion is not of works. If it were, it would be a question of time. 
Eighteen hundred years ago, on the accursed tree, Jesus said, It 
is finished. Then my sins were expiated; then the blessed 
Saviour heaved the load from this guilty world ; and, besides, 



64 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

there is no hint in the Bible that I must stop for time. Does he 
not say, ' Come now, and let us reason together, and though your 
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they 
be red like crimson, they shall be as wool '? Then, since Christ 
has finished the work, — since the Bible never hints that I must 
stop longer, — since salvation is by grace, not by works, — since 
everything is done that can be done, — I will dare believe. I will 
go as lam; I will look up to the bleeding Saviour ; I will see 
him, or perish in the attempt. I will make my way to him step 
by step; and though it be through blood, fire, and death, — yea, 
though all hell shall oppose my soul, — I'll fight my passage 
through. I am a sinner, and unless saved must soon sink into hell. 
I stand on one planet, one world, but death will soon push me 
off. And what will become of me ? I see before me two worlds. 
One of them is the burning planet of hell, and my sins are like 
weights to sink me down within the sphere of its gravitating 
influence. My soul is magnetized by sin, and on my sins its 
gravitating laws will act; and, as I leave this planet, it wil' 
attract me downwards towards the centre of that fearful region ; 
and as I near it, those shadowy forms of lost fiends and damned 
men will rise up, and, with withering sarcasm, exclaim, 'Art 
thou also become as one of us ? ' What shall I do ? I see also 
another planet, girdled with a halo of light — light from another 
sun. I see there a throne blazing with majesty and glory; I 
see myriads of shades of light, moving like beams of light, cir- 
cling that throne. I see on it the King of eternity — the God I 
have offended ; but, there is a rainbow girdling that throne, and 
written upon it, in letters of light, ' God so loved the world that 
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him 
should not perish, but have everlasting life.' This is the good 
news brought me from that world. It is written in a book. 
' Lord ! from that stupendous height, towards which the cheru- 
bim lifts up an. eye in vain, bow down thine ear, show me thy 
Son ! Thou giver, guider, lover, yea, buyer of souls, let not 
thine anger burn forever; cast me not away; reclaim, not 
destroy me ! Thou didst look compassion on a denying Peter, 
and did not reject disbelieving Thomas ; thou didst gather to 



FEAR. OF DEATH DESTROYED BY CHRIST. 65 

thyself in paradise (where angels cast their crowns at thy feet) 
a thief from the cross. What a wonderful climax is this ! And 
is it possible for love to rise higher still ? O ! let it rise 
higher, and reach even me. Does not thy love, like a great 
ocean, overflow the whole creation ? Then, add to thy other 
wonders one wonder more, and save even me ! ' Yes, thou 
wilt; thy word is pledged ; I shall see him; these eyes shall 
feast on him ; before the king of terrors shall strike the blow, I 
shall see the Lord's Christ. Then, let death hurl me from this 
planet, — let hell send out its gravitating influence, — let all the 
fiends of perdition throw their spell around me, — a sight of 
Christ will save me ! Here, then, I am shut up to the faith, like 
a man shut up in a castle. Break through the walls I cannot ; 
to scale its summit I have no power; but heaven has opened a 
door ! I see before me an open door, — I look through it. Yonder 
is a mountain ; and on that mountain I see rising, above a dense 
crowd of beings, the form of a cross. The sight wanes away 
into darkness, darkness at noon. How awful that darkness ! I 
feel the planet on which I stand trembling in its orbit. How 
the earth quakes, heaves and swells, around me ! Hark ! the 
very rocks are rending asunder. How deafening those peals of 
thunder ! Those flashes of lightning, how fearfully vivid ! The 
storm rages on — the elements are all at war. Behold the lurid 
lightnings playing over the graveyard ! Look! look! the very 
dead are rising from their tombs. Is the day of doom arrived ? 
are the elements returning to their chaotic state ? is the great 
white throne about to burst upon our view ? No ; I feel the 
trembling of earth subsiding; those awful sounds are less loud, — 
they grow fainter and fainter. Now, all is quiet — quiet, how 
fearfully quiet! Surely the very winds are sleeping; surely 
neither man nor angel nor devil seems to breathe. The mad- 
dened cry, the blood cry, the death cry, the cry of crucify Him, 
which rang so wildly around that summit a few minutes since, 
is now hushed. O! how oppressive this silence! 'tis like the 
silence of death. The death of winds, the death of ocean, the 
death of angels, the death of demons — the quiet of universal 
death. Hark ! hark ! a faint cry — it comes down on the moan- 
er 



66 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

ing winds — ' Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani ! ' and, ' It is finished ! ' 
See! see! a faint streak of light breaks — glimmers over the 
mountain. I see, through the gloom, the shadowy outline of 
a cross. I see a form, a human form, writhing in agony on that 
cross. I see blood dripping over that brow — dripping from those 
hands and feet fastened by the nails ! ! what a countenance 
is that, though covered with dust, and sweat, and blood ! A 
heavenly radiance beams from it ! How full of compassion ! 
That is the Lord's Christ ! See ! my soul, the pardon of all 
thy sins is written with pointed steel and streaming blood on 
his pierced hands and feet. He speaks to thee. His cross is 
his pulpit, — his blood, his eloquence, — his death, his subject. 
He speaks to thee ; listen, oh, listen to him ! ' Believe, and thou 
hast everlasting life ; believe, and a grain of faith will remove 
mountains of guilt; believe with all thy heart; all things are 
possible to him that belie veth. Thou hast played with fiery 
serpents ; they have bitten thy heart, but I have already sucked 
the mortal poison. In the perilous attempt, my soul was seized 
with sorrow, even unto death ; and an unheard of agony, attended 
with a bloody sweat, came upon my body ; a racking cross was 
the bed I was stretched upon; sharp thorns proved the pillow on 
which I rested my fainting head ; the bitterest sarcasms were 
my consolations ; vinegar and gall my cordials ; a band of bloody 
soldiers the cruel wretches appointed to tear open my veins; 
whips, nails, a hammer, and a spear, the instruments allowed 
them to do the dreadful operation. For hours I bled under their 
merciless hands ; and thy fearful curse, oh ! sinner, flowed 
together with my blood. In the mean time, noonday light was 
turned into the gloom of night, — a dire emblem of the darkness 
that overspread my agonizing soul, — and, at last, while earth- 
quakes rocked me into the sleep of death, I gave up the ghost. 
And now, sinner, despise no more such amazing love ; requite it 
with a believing look ! By all that is near, and dear, and sacred 
to thee, fly from eternal death — fly for eternal life. The law 
pursues thee with ten thousand curses; the sword of divine ven- 
geance flames over thy devoted head. Death levels his pointed 
spear at thy thoughtless or throbbing heart ; hell itself is moved 



FEAR OF DEATH DESTROYED BY CHRIST. 67 

from beneath to meet thee at thy coming ; and the grave gapes 
at thy feet, ready to close her hideous mouth upon thee. Fly, 
then, miserable sinner ! If thy flesh is not brass, and thou canst 
not dwell with everlasting burnings, fly for shelter to my bloody 
cross ! The Philistines are upon thee ; instantly shake thyself; 
burst the bonds of spiritual sloth ; break, like a desperate soul, 
out of the prison of unbelief; escape for thy life, — look not behind 
thee, — stay not in all the plain! This one thing do, leave 
Sodom and her ways behind, and press towards the little Zoar, 
and escape to the mount of God, lest thou be consumed ! Dost 
thou at last yield? — dost thou turn thy trembling heart and 
tearful eye towards me ? ' ' Yes,' exclaims the penitent — 

« 1 yield ! I yield ! 

I can hold out no more ; 
I sink, by dying love compelled, 
And own thee Conqueror.' 

My one object now is to see thee. Yes ; 't is he ! 't is he ! My 
Lord, that suffers there. Thou art my salvation ' I will trust 
in thee, and not be afraid ! I dare, I can, I do believe ! Halle- 
lujah ! My Lord, and my God ! ; Now, Lord, lettest thou, &c.' " 

When we have seen Christ, the sting of death is gone. Simeon 
pressed the Lord's Christ to his heart, and then he never wished 
his eyes to gaze on aught more of earth;* and when the believ- 
ing penitent has Christ in his heart, the hope of glory, then he 
is not afraid of death. Two or three facts will bear out this 
statement. Some time since, a minister of the Gospel was 
called upon to visit a dying woman. He ascended a flight of 
stairs that led into a miserable-looking garret ; for, though clean 
and neat, there was scarcely an article of furniture to give an 
air of comfort to the chamber of death. In one corner of the 
room there was a bed — a bed of straw ! On it lay a dying 
female, pale, and worn to a skeleton ; she was near the verge, 
the trembling verge, of eternity. The minister drew nigh, and 
said to her, "Well, my friend, how do you feel? — what are 
your prospects for the eternity which is just about to open upon 
you?" 



68 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

She looked up in the minister's face, with a countenance bright 
with heavenly radiance, and beaming with a brightness she had 
caught gazing on the visions of God, and said, " ! sir, 

' 'T is Jesus, the first and the last, 

Whose Spirit shall guide me safe home ; 
I '11 praise him for all that is past, 
And trust him for all that 's to come.' " 

Christianity can make a bed of straw into a bed of down; 
can convert a gloomy sick chamber into the vestibule of heaven 
— a chamber where the soul unrobes and plumes herself for her 
flight. That is one case — I will give you another. 

There w r as a young woman who had been converted to God, 
that lived in a family where Christianity was neglected and 
despised, especially in the shape of Methodism. Shortly after 
her conversion she was laid on a bed of sickness, and felt 
greatly the need of pious counsel — of Christian consolation. But 
her friends strongly forbade the leader of the class to which she 
belonged to see her. The good man, however, was not to be 
deterred by difficulties; he made his way to her house, and, 
when denied the privilege of an interview with the dying suf- 
ferer, he knelt down outside the house, under the window of the 
expiring female, and lifted up his voice in prayer to God that he 
would support her. As the tones of the well-known voice in 
fervent prayer stole through her casement, and fell sweeter than 
music on her ear, the effect upon her was so cheering, that her 
friends resolved to allow the man of God to see her. As he 
stood by her bedside, she said to him, " O ! sir, I see before me 
a dark valley — dark as the blackest night. How, oh ! how shall 
I get through it ? " 

" ! " said her leader, " God will send thousands of holy 
angels to light up for you the dark valley of death." 

Some weeks passed away ere the leader had an opportunity 
of visiting the young woman again ; and when he did come, she 
had taken her flight to the world of spirits. He inquired of her 
friends what the state of her mind was at the hour of death. 
" ! " said they, " we scarcely know ; she appeared to rave a 



FEAR OF DEATH DESTROYED BY CHRIST. 69 

little. Just as she was dying, she was crying out, ' Lit up — lit 
up.' " 

" Ah ! " said the good man, " God had lit up the valley of 
death." Yea, the holy angels whispered her happy spirit away. 
She saw a light other eyes did not see; she heard voices, 
voices from eternity — 

" Hark ! they whisper, angels say, 
Sister spirit, come away ! " 

And they bore her happy spirit up to the regions of immor- 
tality. The righteous hath hope in his death. This is another 
testimony to the fact that at eventide of the Christian it shall 
be light — that a sight of Christ can banish the fear of death, 
and enable the dying saint to exclaim, with Simeon, " Now 
Lord, &c." 

I will yet add one more testimony to this truth. In a cer- 
tain town, not long since, lived a widow woman, surrounded by 
seven children, and the most of them small. Her life had been 
marked by preeminent devotedness. Seldom was her seat 
vacant at the preaching, either week-night or Sabbath; and as 
sure as her class-meeting night came round, she was there. Her 
prayers, in the midst of the little band with whom she assembled, 
were marked by great fervor, and often reached the point that 
may be called wrestling with God. The last night she attended 
her class-meeting, just one week before she died, her prayer 
amounted almost to agony, as she pleaded for her class-mem- 
bers, and the prosperity of the cause of God. Every person 
present on that memorable occasion, who heard that memorable 
prayer, felt that they were in a heavenly place, on the verge, in 
the vestibule, the very ante-chamber, of heaven. On the Thurs- 
day evening previous to her death, she came to the chapel to 
hear the word of God. The preacher had been led out of his 
usual course, to preach on that beautiful passage, " O, that 
men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and his wonderful 
works to the children of men ! " There she sat before the 
preacher, and the great tears coursed their way down her cheek, 
till she was completely subdued, and the tears gushed from her 



70 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

eyes while she contemplated the goodness of God. When she 
returned home into the bosom of her little family, the child.-en 
marked a heavenly radiance beaming on her countenance, and 
said, " O ! mother, how happy you look ! " 

She replied, " I wish I could sing ; I feel so happy, I do not 
know what to do. I don't know what is going to happen, but 
my soul is filled with God." 

That very night she was seized with an illness that proved 
fatal. Her pain became of an excruciating character. She 
underwent a surgical operation extremely painful. While the 
doctor was performing his operation, she was shouting, " Glory, 
glory, glory to God ! " It soon became evident that death was 
rapidly approaching, and her family gathered around her dying 
bed. One of the daughters, grown up, had not yet given her 
heart to God. The dying mother became now all absorbed in the 
salvation of her daughter ; she solemnly urged her to give herself 
to God. She said to her, " Will you meet me in heaven ? will 
you ? Your mother will soon be in heaven. This is my last 
advice — will you meet me in heaven ? " 

The daughter sobbed out, " Yes, I will try to mee.t you 
there." 

Her little children also were there. They were about to 
become orphans; the father had died in the Lord two years 
before. They had come to take the last view of their fond 
mother — to receive her last blessing. The dying woman had a 
very aged father and mother, whose heads blossomed for eter- 
nity. They were sent for to see her end. They came, and the 
meeting was deeply affecting. There stood the venerable old 
people and the little children around the bed of the dying mother. 
The interest of the whole group, from the little child to the 
gray-headed parents, was centred in one object — in the dying 
mother. Her spirit was now quivering on the very suburbs of 
eternity. She, however, gathered up her strength for the 
occasion — roused her spirit to make one effort more for her 
God, and solemnly charged them all to meet her in heaven. 
Turning to her little children, her eye wandered from them to 
her parents. Like her dying Master, feeling a concern for those 



FEAR OF DEATH DESTROYED BY CHRIST. 71 

she was leaving behind, she said to her parents, "Will you take 
care of my children — my Utile children ? " 

They wept as though their hearts would break; the scene 
was deeply affecting. Her work was now done ; the last tie 
was now severed — her charge given up; her tabernacle was 
falling down, but her spirit was rising up in majesty. Her hus- 
band had died about two years before — died in the Lord. Look- 
ing intently into one corner of the room, as though she saw some 
object there, she called her husband by his name, and exclaimed, 
" There are Simeon and the angels come for me — I shall soon 
be with you ! " And in a short time she clapped her glad wings 
and towered away, to mingle with the blaze of day. She had 
seen Christ, and could now say, with Simeon, " Now, Lord, 
lettest, &c." This is another testimony to the fact that a sight 
of Christ will destroy the fear of death. Come, desponding 
believer, and sing with the sacred bard — 

" When I survey the wondrous cross 
On which the Prince of glory died, 
My greatest gain I count but loss, 
And pour contempt on all my pride. 

"Were the whole realm of nature mine, 
That were a present far too small ; 
Love so amazing, so divine, 
Demands my life, my soul, my all." 



SERMON V. 



THE FULNESS DWELLING IN JESUS CHRIST. 

" For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell." — Colossians 1 : 19. 

This is the last sermon I expect to preach in England, for 
the present. Where I shall preach again, before I return to 
England, I cannot tell. My heart says — 

"Captain of Israel's host, and Guide 
Of all who seek the land above, 
Beneath thy shadow I abide, 
The cloud of thy protecting love: 
My strength thy grace, my rule thy word, 
My end the glory of the Lord. 
By thy unerring spirit led, 

I shall not in the desert stray : 
I shall not full direction need, 
Nor miss my providential way ; 
As far from danger as from fear, 
While love, Almighty love, is near." 

And, what is better than all poetry, — " Honor the Lord in all 
thy ways, and he shall direct thy paths." 

The text that I have chosen to-night you will find in the first 
chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians, the 19th verse. " For 
it pleased the Father that in him " — that is, in Jesus — " should 
all fulness dwell." 

I have sometimes sat on an eminence, since I have come to 
England, and I have watched the sun going down over the 
western hills ; and as the sun was going down over the western 
hills of England, I have said, Now, that sun has to go away 
(vulgarly speaking), and it will make its appearance in the east- 
em heavens again : and then I have watched it, and seen it 
rising, and have cried out, There 's a tremendous motion 
somewhere, and I do not know where. Astronomy tells me 



THE FULNESS DWELLING IN JESUS CHRIST. 73 

the earth goes about the sun ; I cannot tell. Why, astronomers 
would call me a blockhead, if I would not believe it. Well, I 
suppose it is so ; but, after all, there 's a mystery about the 
revolutions of the planets that I cannot understand. All I have 
been able to say, in looking at it, is, that I know not any prin- 
ciple in astronomy or philosophy which I would be willing to 
trust my soul upon, in the present day. But between the 
leaves of this Bible I do find something I can rest my soul upon. 
I have seen the sun ; and I have seen the moon, appearing in 
the western heavens like a ring on a lady's finger, or, more 
properly, like a Turkish crescent; and I have watched her 
rising in full-orbed majesty in the east; and I have said, 
There 's motion somewhere. But when I see mlnd in motion, 
when I see the poor sinner on his knees crying for mercy, I am 
not at a loss about the motion there; I know its cause; it is at 
the centre ; it originates with Christ ; for it pleased the Father 
that in him should all fulness dwell. 

And I have sat by the ocean shore, and have watched the tide 
coming in : and I have watched it coming in, and it has beaten 
me back from rock to rock, and it has demanded every inch of 
me, and the language of the incoming tide has said, " Go back ! 
go back ! " and if I dared to stand my ground, it would come 
upon me to beat me back. I have said, There 's tremendous 
motion sOxMewhere. And I have watched the tide filling every 
creek, every crevice along the shore ; and I have said, There 's 
tremendous motion somewhere. They say, it is the regular 
course of nature : I say, it is a mighty miracle ! And I have 
said, There 's a tremendous centre of motion somewhere, 
but where is it ? There I stopped ; there I have stopped ; and 
in all that I have read about the tides of the sea, I cannot 
understand it. I cannot understand why you have two miles of 
tide, — one mile, two miles, three miles of tide, — on the shores 
of England, in Naples six inches, and so on : why, I answer, I 
cannot tell ; it 's mystery all ! And there 's as great a mystery 
about the tides of the ocean, as some of the infidels talk about 
the mysteries of Christianity. But when I watched the tide, 
and said, How 's this ? I dared not drown myself, like Aristotle, 
7 



74 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

because I could not tell the mystery of the tides. God keep 
the poor infidel who will send his soul to hell because he can- 
not understand the mysteries of creation ! 

I have stood in a population of hundreds of thousands of 
souls, and I have seen a mighty mass of men going down, in 
one dark, black current, to the cataract of hell; and, glory be 
to God ! I have stood beside the banks of that river, and have 
seen the tide parted backward, and running backward, contrary 
to the course of nature, by a power ! and have cried out, My 
God, who hath turned these towards heaven ? and I have not 
been at a loss on that point. If I cannot explain the tide, I do 
know what caused that mind-motion. That motion of mind 
comes from heaven. And there was a power here last night, 
bless God! to turn the whole sinners of Nottingham in a 
moment ! and where is that centre of power ? It pleased the 
Father that in him should all fulness dwell. 

All fulness in Christ! I have sometimes thought, the 
apostle St. Paul took the sun, the solar system, and made it a 
sort of a type of the Gospel; that, as the sun is the centre of 
the solar system, and as all the other systems are directed by 
this sun, and by the same powerful attraction kept in their orbs, 
so St. Paul places Jesus Christ as the great centre and sun of 
all the doctrines and ordinances of Christianity ; and he places 
him in the centre, and all the doctrines revolve around him. 
He 's the centre of all that is in Christianity. And let every 
person read this chapter over, and you will see how beautifully 
he represents Christ. Hear how he goes on. " Giving thanks 
unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of 
the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us 
from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the 
kingdom of his dear son." So, his dear son 's got a kingdom ! 
and, therefore, is a king : and that is the first step, the kingly 
authority of Jesus Christ, — "In whom we have redemption 
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins." " Through his 
blood ! " Unitarian ! stop there ! " Forgiveness of sins 
through his blood ! " Some persons talk about the atonement, 
and about merit ; well, well, well, well, well, we are not going 



THE FULNESS DWELLING IN JESUS CHRIST. 75 

to quarrel about merit; but is not this merit? — "In whom we 
have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins." 
Do as you like ; discard merit, if you like ; there is forgiveness 
through blood, make what you will of it. That is one step ; 
what 's the next? " Who is the image of the invisible God, 
the first born of every creature." You will find out what he 
made Christ, before you have done with it. " For by him were 
all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, 
visible and invisible." What ! is Christ the creator of the world? 
Yes, he is. " All things, whether they be thrones, or dominions, 
or principalities, or powers, — all things were created by him." 
"Ah! but" says one, "he had a delegated power." O, no; 

" ALL THINGS WERE CREATED BY HIM AND FOR HIM." They Were 

made for him. He made them, and they were his own. " And 
he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he 
is the head of the body, — the church : who is the beginning ; 
the first born from the dead ; that in all things he might have 
the preeminence. "For it pleased the Father that in him should 
all fulness dwell." 

There is a fulness in Christ in many ways, but I shall 
promise no more than one at a time ; then I can stop when I 
think you are tired, or when it is proper to stop. Lift up your 
hearts in prayer. 

There is a fulness in Christ, — my text says it, — of light, of 
mercy, of power, of grace, of everything the soul of man needs ; 
fulness of benevolence, of merit, of intercession : for it is said, 
" he ever liveth to make intercession for us; " and, " there is one 
mediator between God and man, — Christ Jesus." Therefore, 
in Christ all fulness dwells. 

The first thing I want to touch upon is this : that unless a 
measure of that fulness — take which point of the fulness you 
will — is communicated to the sinner, he never can see himself 
as a sinner. I hold that to be an unquestionable proposition, — 
That if God were to let the sinner alone, he would no more 
seek after him than the devil. But, bless God ! there is an 
intercessor; there is a Christ; and as long as that Christ is 
alive and in glory — the friend of the human race — he '11 not 



76 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

let a man or a woman of you alone ; and while there 's an 
agitation in heaven, there '11 be an agitation on earth. God 
will not let the sinner alone. God begins very young with sin- 
ners ; and yet I have seen a case, in the course of my travels, 
that rather staggered me. I happened to be pursuing my travels 
on horseback ; I was riding along a road through large moun- 
tains, when I saw a horse galloping after me, with a little boy 
on it, with a red night-cap on, riding as fast as he was able. 
He pulled up his horse. "Well," I said, "my lad, who made 
this heaven, up yonder?" 

" I don't know, sir," said he. 

"Well, now, look at that mountain, yonder (it was called 
the camel's rump), tipped with a cloud, up yonder; who made 
that?" 

He said, " Indeed, I don't know, sir." 

Said I, " My lad, do you ever go to any place of public wor- 
ship?" 

" Yes, sir." 

" Where they read, and where they pray ? " 

" Yes, sir." 

" And don't you hear a man sometimes speaking and talk- 
ing?" 

" Yes, sir." 

" Well, and who is he talking to, with his eyes shut ? " 

" Indeed, I don't know." 

" My dear," said I, " he was talking to the Almighty, the 
maker of heaven and earth, — that God that piled up the moun- 
tain : that is the God he was talking to, my lad." The little 
fellow seemed to be affected. Said I, " Lad, how old are you ? " 
" Ten years," he answered. He told me his father was dead, 
and his mother alive ; and it appeared that into that little crea- 
ture's mind, at ten years of age, the idea of the existence of God 
had never entered. I hold this to be an extraordinary case. 
Bless God for Sabbath-schools ! There are some lads know 
more about scripture at ten years of age than some gray-headed 
sinners at sixty. But one great principle will hold out univer- 
sally, — that no man can ever get into hell-fire with his eyes shut. 



THE FULNESS DWELLING IN JESUS CHRIST. 77 

The Lord will make him feel and understand before he goes 
to the bar of God ; for it pleased the Father that all fulness of 
light, and conviction, and awakening powers, should dwell in 
Christ. 

That is the first thing : the second thing our text suggests is, 
that, as all fulness dwells in Christ, no sinner can ever come 
to the true point of salvation, unless it be through Christ, who 
pleads for him in the heavens. The true point of faith, whereby 
God justifies the sinner, is the last thing the sinner will come to 
before he 's converted. As far as I have seen or read about it, 
it is the last thing the sinner will do to come to Christ for 
mercy through simple faith in the blood of the Lamb. Nothing 
is more common than that a sinner, when awakened, will leave 
off Sabbath-breaking, come to the house of God, and try every 
method to get salvation, except the true method. And, after 
every method is tried, 

<: Should sudden vengeance seize my breath, 
I must pronounce thee just in death ; 
And if my soul is sent to hell, 
Thy righteous law approves it well." 

And he will do everything before he comes, as a wretched, 
guilty, hell-deserving sinner, to rest upon the merits of Christ's 
blood. After he has done all that, we have seen such sinners 
coming, with their faces pale, and the flesh worn from their 
bones ; and many a trembling lip have I seen. Well, they have 
come and said, " Sir, it 's no use; if ever a man has sought God 
for mercy sincerely, I have; it's no use; I have tried every 
way to find mercy, and God has some exceptions against me." 
I have assured such persons, over and over again, it's no use ; 
I see there 's a legality in your nature, and it will be the very 
best thing you will do to get rid of it. You want to bring some- 
thing with you. And there 's nothing more common than for a 
man to come, and offer up his body, soul, and spirit, to God . 
and he says, " I have abandoned my sins ; and, all I can say is, 
I have promised to be thy servant forever." 

" WelV says one, " can he do any more ? He believes tha t 
7# 



78 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

Christ died for him ; can he do more ? " I answer, he might seek 
religion till his head 's gray, and not find mercy. 

"What," says one, "if he trusts in the merits of Christ?" 
Part of it is right, and part of it is wrong. The true faith is 
there, but it is tainted. Don't you see, the man is making a 
bargain with God ? He is bringing his good life, and putting 
this in as a plea ; putting that into the balance, and then puts 
the merits of Christ in to make up the weight. It 's a bargain 
with God, and God will push him away. " But," says one, 
" why ? " I answer, he owes his body, soul, and spirit, to God 
already : he can offer to God but what belongs to Him : there 's 
no salvation in that. " But," says another, " what is to be 
done ? " 

I will show you. At length, — and it 's the last thing he 's ever 
willing to do, — the spirit of God 's at work with the man, and is 
cutting oflf tie after tie that binds him to the old Adam : — it 's 
the last thing he '11 do, to come as a bankrupt. Self-righteous- 
ness sits as close to his soul as the skin to his bones ; and the 
Holy Ghost has to flay him, as it were, — to strip off this self- 
righteousness ; and at last he is stripped before the living God ; 
and he comes, a poor, naked, trembling sinner, and he says, 
" God Almighty ! I have nothing to offer ; I offer my body, soul, 
and spirit, but they are thine already ; have mercy upon me 
through Christ's blood alone : I trust myself upon the blood of 
Jesus." And the angels say, " He 'll live ! " And Christ says, 
" Let him live ! Behold my hands and side. Behold the 
pleading sinner's plea ! " And every attribute of God Almighty 
says, " He must live ! " and at last God says to the pleading, 
trusting sinner, " Live ! live ! " And the Holy Ghost says, 
" Live ! " His chains fly off; his soul is free ; he rises up, and 
triumphs, and glorifies his pardoning God. This is salvation by 
faith. It is the very last thing a sinner will do ; and this is the 
main reason why many persons are deceived regarding their 
conversion. 

Keep lifting up your hearts to God. Take care, friend, you 
are not deceived there. You have offered all up ; but I fear 
you will never go as a guilty, condemned sinrier, trusting in 



THE FULNESS DWELLING IN JESUS CHRIST. 79 

Christ as your only plea ; and I believe that, were it not for 
the intercession of Christ, I should have stopped short, and you 
would have stopped short, and every other man. I was in the 
town some time ago, and there was a great report went about 
of our doings ; and there was a very wicked farmer denied the 
existence of a hell : he was the next door to an atheist ; and his 
conduct was just according to his principles : he was many a 
time drunk ; he was a respectable farmer, though, a man of good 
property, and had a family. Well, he came to see the goings 
on in the chapel ; he got a sitting down in the middle of the 
chapel, and in the sermon God struck him ; but he would not 
come forward to be prayed for. After the service, I went with 
a minister home, and we were up in his library, and we heard 
an uproar out of doors, — such an uproar ! — and then we heard 
steps coming up, indicating a heavy heart, or an aged man : — 
it was the farmer. He came in, and looked like desolation. 
Said he, " Sirs, I am undone." " No," said I, " you are not 
undone ; there 's mercy for you." 

" O, what a sinner I am ! " he said, and down he came upon a 
heap in the floor, and cried for mercy. We kept pleading with 
God for a long while, till at last, about twelve o'clock, I said, 
"I am fairly worn out," and the minister said, "I cannot stand 
it any longer." We spoke to the man, and told him so ; and he 
got up, and got his hat. There was another member of his fam- 
ily with him, and he took him by the hand ; and if he had been 
going to the gallows, he could not have looked more desolate. 
" Farewell," he said, " farewell ! " — as if he thought he would 
be in hell before the next morning. Eeally, I could not stand it. 
We went down to prayer again ; but it was of no use, and he 
went away. At last I saw him in chapel, a few nights after. 
There was such a smile, — a heaven, upon the man's counte- 
nance ! I went up to him, and said I, " How are you ? " 

" Ah, sir, I am happy ! But sir, Mr. Caughey," said he, 
" the devil nearly cheated me, after all." 

" How, sir ? " 

"I will tell you," he replied. "When I went home, I cried 
for mercy, and went to bed, and got up in the morning. I felt 



80 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

comfortable in the morning ; something was telling me, ' You 
are converted.' Then something said, ' No, you are not con- 
verted already ;' and I did not know which to believe. But one 
of my neighbors came in, and I asked him what he thought of 
my state. He sat down to read the Bible to me. Well, I let 
him read. I waited till he closed reading, and then I went into 
my barn, and made up my mitid I would have this voice set- 
tled. One voice said, 'You have done;' and something said, 
' You have not done.' I pleaded for salvation, and, in pleading 
with God, he set my soul at liberty, and I made my barn ring 
again. Bless God, I got saved ! bat the devil nearly cheated 
me." Take care, friends, or the devil will get you into hell-fire 
yet. Examine the workings of your soul. For Christ pleads 
for you. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness 
dwell. 

The next thing our text suggests is, that unless believers get 
fully united to Christ, as the branch becomes united to the vine, 
they must wither, and droop, and die. There can be no life 
without Christ, — no vigorous profession without him. If you 
are growing upon the old stock Adam, and are not engrafted 
into Jesus Christ our Lord, your profession, though made in the 
name of Jesus Christ, is not the profession of the Gospel. It 
pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell, — that, 
unless believers are united to Christ, they cannot be true Chris- 
tians ; and if they get out of Christ, they wither, they droop, 
they die. Now, I do not know how you settle that matter in 
this country. Says one, " What matter ? " The matter of the 
possibility of falling from Christ, and getting into hell. I do 
not intend to say much about it now ; I leave parties to their 
own controversial work. But I will tell you how we do in 
North America ; and I believe there is very little prejudice in 
Nottingham against the other side of the Atlantic. But then 
Jesus Christ is a Saviour who died for the sins of the whole 
world ; and there is a spirit of liberality about religious principles 
wherever they have been received. We do it in this way. Is 
it possible to be in Christ, and to get out of him, and perish in 
hell ? Some say No, some say Yes ; — we settle it in this way. 



THE FULNESS DWELLING IN JESUS CHRIST. 81 

We just turn to the following chapter, and read, — " I am the true 
vine, and my father is the husbandman. Every branch in me 
that beareth not fruit, he taketh away ; and every branch that 
beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 
Now, ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto 
you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear 
fruit in itself, except it abide in the vine ; no more can ye, except 
ye abide in me : I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that 
abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; 
for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, 
he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered ; and men gather 
them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." Now, 
is there a gardener here ? If I am not mistaken, there is one. I 
ask that gardener to decide this : may a branch be " cast forth 
and cut off," and be engrafted again ? " Yes." If it " wither " 
a little, may it be engrafted and live ? " Yes." " And men 
gather the branches ; " and after they are grafted, may they not 
be grafted in again? "Yes." "And cast them into the fire 
and they are burned ; " and can they then be grafted in again ? 
" No," says a gardener, " we cannot engraft them then." Now, 
if that means anything, it means that ye may get cut off, bound 
up with sinners, and burned in hell-fire ; and if it don't mean 
that, I protest to you I do not know what it means. We must 
abide in Christ. God help you; but trust in Christ; for it 
pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell. 

I believe it is one thing to be engrafted into Christ : for if 
ever you are in Christ, you are engrafted ; if you are not 
engrafted, you belonged to the old stock Adam ; I did, you did, 
we all did. We are engrafted into Christ and have a new 
nature. And hence, says the apostle, " If any man be in 
Christ, he is a new creature." And that is what Christ says ; 
" Be abiding in me, for I am the vine and ye are the branches." 
Now, there 's a very great difference between the faith of engraft- 
ing and the faith of adhering. " But," says one, " I hope you 
will not make any distinctions in theology, for we have plenty." 
No ; I am the last man to do so. " Well," says another, " what 
do you mean ? " I answer, there are two classes of people in 



82 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

Protestantism; the one class have the engrafting faith; and 
there 's another class that twines about Christ ; they adhere to 
him, but they have never been united to him, to get succor or 
strength out of him. I will illustrate this. Do you see yon 
trees ? It is a wood. It is July. We take a walk there. By 
and by we come to a very lofty oak ; and look upon the oak, and 
you say, Dear me ! that oak 's very thick ; it 's an unusually 
thick oak ! Do you see what foliage it has on ? you would say 
to your friend. He would reply, " That thickness is not of oak- 
leaves." Ah ! that 's it. What 's that twisting about the trunk 
of the oak ? It 's one of those vines — what do you call them ? 
— ivies, — vines ; — and they begin to twist. NowJ then, begin 
the twist, and up with you, and by and by you will see that ivy 
at the top. Pluck off one of the branches of the ivy, and then 
one of the oak ; — and go to any of our American farmers, and 
say, " Well, what 's that ? " " Oak." " I don't care where it 
grew, oak 's oak all the world over." " And what 's that ? " 
" Ivy." "Well, but they both grew on the same tree ! I de- 
clare that I (with my own hands) climbed up the tree and plucked 
them both from the top branches." " Well, I don't care what 
you say ; it is not an oak, you cannot make it an oak ; you may 
go where you like with it." Now, I tell you that there 's a 
fair example between a formalist and a true Christian. There 
are some persons that grow on their old roots ; and seem to twine 
about Christ, and twine about him ; but, like that ivy, if you 
untwist it, — if you can, but it 's a difficult thing, — untwist, un- 
twist, untwist, and get to the bottom, — you see, it grows on its old 
roots ; it 's merely borne up. So there are professors of religion 
who grow on their old roots, but they will twist about God, and 
twist about, and twist about him,— May God waken you ! — It is 
with many persons just as it was in the days of old ; like the 
seven women that took hold of one man, and said, " Let us 
drink our own water, and eat our own bread, and be called by 
thy name." I would be the last man that would hurt a tender 
conscience, or perplex a sincere man. Says one, " Well, you 
are in very great danger, for that is a point will perplex them." 
May God bless them ! But I am not afraid of hurting them. 
They will stand, if they are in Christ. 



THE FULNESS DWELLING IN JESUS CHRIST. 83 

Go into the woods and take hold of a tree, and give it a good 
shake ; — by the by, take care of your head, for the rotten 
branches will fall on you. But the sound branches will not 
fall. And when a man has taken hold on Christ, he can go 
through a shake, and not all the winds of earth and hell can 
prevail against him. God Almighty ! take away the rotten 
branches, and graft them in. 

O friend ! O friend ! friend ! take care of this business ! 
If you are growing on your own root, it will be a terrible affair 
for you. And I tell you what, if you are not bottomed in 
Jesus Christ, you will not flourish, — you will wither. I was out 
one day walking, I will not say where, and I looked up to a 
tree, and I saw a great many withered leaves : and I said, 
" Dear me ! what 's the matter with that tree ? " and I looked, 
and part of the tree was green, and it was beautiful ; and I 
looked, and there was a vine twisted about it, and some person 
had come and cut the vine, — cut it clean through; and I said, 
■ That is it, you are cut ; you will never grow again." Now, to 
many a sinner that is growing on his own roots, twisted about 
Christ, God sends a messenger of Jesus with a cutting knife ; 
and he begins to cut, and cuts away, and cuts that one that 's 
growing on the roots. Cut him, my Lord ! cut him ! May the 
Holy Ghost never give you rest till you are engrafted in Jesus 
Christ. 

The next thing our text suggests is this : why has it pleased 
the Father that all fulness should dwell in him ? I answer, for 
our security. Before my arrival in this country, there was a 
great stagnation, — no, that is not it, — there was a great com- 
motion among the private banking companies, and I do not 
know but that some of you have lost by their breaking ; and 
some of you have taken very good care since what sort of a 
bank you have put your money in. Now, God lodged the whole 
bank stock of man's salvation in one man's hands ; and that 
was Adam. You all know that Adam became a bankrupt ; and 
it never pleased the Father any more to trust it in any man's 
hand again. And if he had, backslider ! you would have been 
undone. You have yet your portion ; and, bless God, there 's 



84 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

enough. He has put the stock of salvation in the bank that 
never fails. That 's one reason. 

And the next reason is, that you may all have a share in that 
bank. And all believers present now have a share ; and ye 
may draw from the bank, and ye are drawing now ; and ye are 
far more happy than when ye came into the chapel. And now 
you can help others, and draw from the bank, if they have not 
anything in it. A poor man comes to you, and you have got some 
money in a bank. The poor man says, " Dear sir, these are 
very hard times, and. I am in great difficulty ; I will give you 
all the security I can, and I want you to give me a check for 
£20." " Well," you say, " I don't know ; let me see. Have 
you tried everywhere else ? " " Yes sir ; I come to you as my 
last hope." "Very well," you say; and you write a check on 
the bank for £20. He goes to the bank, and walks right in, as 
if he were lord of all that is in it. He has a bad coat, or a bad 
hat, — you would not give perhaps a shilling for all that he has 
got ; but the cashier does not look at the man's coat ; he looks 
at the check. The man does not return thanks — unless he 
likes ; he has got his £20. Bless God ! you may give the 
poorest sinner in this chapel a check, if you like ; and what is 
the form of it ? " Ask, and ye shall receive ; knock, and it shall 
be opened unto you." Send him; blessed be God, he shall be 
saved ! For it pleased the Father that in Christ all fulness 
should dwell. 

I see my hour is now nearly expired ; but there is — I speak 
with great solemnity, and preach it with solemn awe — there 
is in Christ what is not communicable to all. There is an in- 
communicable fulness in Jesus Christ ; and that belongs to his 
Godhead ; for the apostle St. Paul says, " In him dwells all the 
fulness of the Godhead bodily." Says one, " What 's that ? " 
I cannot tell you. It is too deep for me. I believe it, yet I can- 
not fathom it. What am I ? I am a creature of a day. What 
shall I be ? Soon I shall return to dust, and my soul into eter- 
nity. And what am I, to sit in judgment upon the counsels of 
heaven, — a creature of a day, to stand and presume to fathom 
what is the mind of the great God ! I speak with awe. My 



THE FULNESS DWELLING IN JESUS CHRIST. 85 

business is to believe the book. " But," says one, " the 
divinity of Jesus Christ is unreasonable." I answer, that it is 
more unreasonable to reject than to believe it. " But how can 
you prove it ? " I take it as the most reasonable thing to be- 
lieve the revelations of my God. Nay, sir, I should doubt the 
revelation, if I could fathom it. But I confess to this congrega- 
tion that there 's a mystery about the two natures. I confess it, 
even in the hearing of the Unitarian, that it is beyond my power 
of reason fully to comprehend ; though I do confess with my 
whole soul, I believe that Jesus Christ was God as well as man. 
I confess to this congregation, I cannot comprehend it with my 
reason, when I read, " Unto us a child is born ; unto us a son is 
given ; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his 
name shall be called Wonderful. Counsellor, the Mighty God, 
the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." Now, how a 
little child can be the Mighty God, and the Everlasting Father, 
I confess is beyond the power of my reason ; but I feel it so 
reasonable to bow down my poor ignorant head, and believe this 
book, — I confess I cannot fathom. There is the first chapter of 
John's gospel : "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word 
was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the 
beginning with God. All things were made by him ; and 
without him was not anything made that was made," &c. I 
cannot fathom it. " You believe it ? " says one. Ah ! I do 
believe it with my whole heart ; but I cannot understand how in 
the beginning the Word was God, and how he was made flesh 
and dwelt among us. And again, I cannot fathom this, I con- 
fess it, though I believe it : — " Great is the mystery of Godli- 
ness, God manifest in the flesh, seen of angels." 

And again, it is said, " And when he brought his first-begot- 
ten into the world, he said, Let all the angels of God worship 
him. But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, oh God, is for 
ever and ever ; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy 
kingdom." I cannot fathom how it is that there is one being 
in heaven united with the eternal God, that receives the adora- 
tion and worship of all hosts of heaven ; and that the Lamb that 
was slain is this being. But if I cannot comprehend it, I do feel 
8 



8b REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

that I can bow my head to it ; and if I cannot feel how it is that 
Jesus Christ should say, " Go ye out into all the world, and 
preach the gospel, and baptize them," — that is, consecrate them, 
" body, soul and spirit," — well, any more ? Yes, — " baptize 
them in the name of the Father," — stop there ? No, " and in the 
name of the Son," — so there are two persons, — "and in the 
name of the Holy Ghost." What ! consecrate them to the 
service of all three ? "Why not a million, if Jesus Christ is a 
mere creature ? — for a million is as far from infinity as one. 
Why not to the seven spirits and the twenty-four elders ? I con- 
fess td you it is too deep. I bow my head and say, I was con- 
secrated in my infancy to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, by 
the authority of Jesus Christ ; and I must worship the Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost, the same in substance, equal in power and 
glory. " But," says one, " you cannot understand it." Be it 
so. I bow my head to the dictates of eternal truth. I cannot 
understand why it is that the apostle should say, " The grace 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the- love of God our Father, and the 
fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with you;" and why these 
three persons' names should be pronounced equal in power and 
glory. I do not know why he did not say, " The grace of St. 
Paul, St. James, St. Luke," and of the whole calendar of prim- 
itive saints. No, but there are three. And why three ? Why 
the three mentioned in this order, — the Father first, the Son sec- 
ond, and the Holy Ghost next, — when pronouncing a blessing 
upon a departing congregation by the authority of the apostle ? 
I say I cannot fathom it in any other way than that they are 
the same, equal in power and glory, demanding like homage 
Now, while there is mystery in all these matters, and while 1 
confess to you and make apology, and while I feel it is rational 
to take the Scriptures as they are, and say, with Thomas, " My 
Lord, and my God ! " it is reasonable to believe the book of the 
living God. But why there is a mystery about the divinity of 
Christ united with his manhood, and why he says, " The 
Father is greater than I," and then again, " I and my Father 
are one," — there 's a mystery now ! and I confess to this 
congregation I have never been able to satisfy myself on this 



THE FULNESS DWELLING IN JESUS CHKIST. 87 

mystery, unless that when he said, " The Father is greater than 
I," he meant his manhood ; and when " I and my Father are 
one," he meant his Godhead. And again he says, " That all 
men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father." And 
if Jesus Christ did not claim divine honors, it is the most sus- 
picious point in all his character. And if Jesus Christ did not 
claim equal honors, it is the most suspicious word ever passed 
the lips of God. 0, believe that he was honest ! but that is too 
low a word : — all things prove him to have been all purity and 
devoutness, and immaculate; and therefore I cannot conceive 
any other interpretation than this : that he claimed equaKty in 
the Godhead. And what could be the meaning of the apostle 
when he saith, — O / it is very strong language, — " Who, though 
he was in the form of man, thought it no robbery to be equal 
with God"? 

What 's that ? Thought it no robbery to be equal with God I 
That a mere creature dare lay claim to be equal with God ? 
After all, still there are difficulties. For when I take up the 
character of Jesus Christ, I see his manhood, and I see him weak 
and feeble, and hungry and weeping, in various circumstances ; 
just like the sun that sometimes rises in the sky, very much 
clouded as he rises, and by and by, towards eleven o'clock, your 
English sun is in brilliance and splendor. It is so with the 
divinity of Christ. For instance, yonder 's a manger and a stable, 
and in that manger lies a little one, — a helpless babe, surrounded 
by the beasts of the stall. That 's Jesus Christ in his humanity. 
And look, yonder, yonder, yonder ! What 's that ? Why, the 
whole plain of Bethlehem is illuminated, and there 's a cry to 
the trembling shepherds, — a cry of peace : — " Fear not, for 
unto you a child is bom in the city of David, a Saviour, which 
is Christ the Lord." And all the heavens are illuminated, as 
they go up into heaven, crying, " Glory to God in the highest ! 
That is Jesus Christ in his divinity." 

See, yonder 's a certain town, — it lies in the heart of Palestine. 
Yonder — yonder a man stands surrounded by a few.men; and 
there 's one in the midst, — look at him ! " Come," says he ; and 
he leads them along, — he 's in the midst of them. That 's Jesus 



88 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

Christ in his humanity. And by and by he cries out, " Pause ! " 
They pause. He stands by the side of the coffin that is borne 
by several men; and the mother, weeping, is close by the coffin, 
for her only son lies there a stiff corpse. There is Jesus Christ; 
there 's the dead body ; and Jesus Christ utters the command — 
" Young man, I say unto thee, arise ! " There was a shaking 
in the coffin ; he springs up in the coffin, and the next moment 
he 's out of it, clasping his weeping mother ; and the whole fune- 
ral stands aghast, and cries, " He 's risen from the dead ! " I own 
a mighty power there, beyond all that 's mortal, and bow my 
head, and own a present God. 

Yonder 's a mountain ; and on that mountain there 's a being 
kneeling in prayer. And it is the midnight hour. And he 's 
praying, and lifting up his hands to heaven, and in the mid- 
night hour communing with the powers above. Who 's that ? 
It 's Jesus Christ. He 's kneeling in prayer. Now, yonder he 
goes — watch him ! There ! he 's close to the water, and he looks 
like a man. See yonder — in the midst of the lake — there 's a 
little vessel ; and the rowers are toiling away and they cannot 
make an inch, and are pulling hard for life — poor fellows! 
Who in the world are they ? They 're his own disciples. And 
what can he do ? Who can help them ? The mighty God can 
help them ! Their Master 's on the shore, and he looks 
through the night, and sees them in their terror. Mark ! the 
first mad wave that rolls in, he put his foot on it, and it bears 
him : and he steps right out from one crested wave to another, 
in solemn majesty, till he comes in a parallel line with the 
laboring vessel. And the seamen see one like the Son of Man 
walking on the sea, and they cry out, " It is a spirit ! " and over 
the billows, and along upon the wind he comes ; and then there is 
a voice coming to them : "Be not afraid ; it is I ! " They lie 
upon their oars, and the vessel labors ; and by and by he steps 
from one crested wave to another ; and one lends him its shoulder 
after another, and he steps into the boat, and there is a calm, 
and all in the vessel cry out, "What does it mean?" I know 
what it means ! You have his manhood on the mountain : 
but when he begins to walk the waves and hush the storm, my 



THE FULNESS DWELLING IN JESUS CHRIST. 89 

soul bows to him. I own the mighty God. I adore him as not 
only man, but my God. Glory be to God ! For it pleased 
the Father that in him should all fulness dwell. 

Yonder is a company of persons standing together in close 
conversation. And in the midst of them there 's one with a 
seamless coat. And they're in very close conversation. What 
is it they 're talking about? One of these is Jesus, and he says, 
" Our friend Lazarus sleepeth." " O well ! " say the disciples, 
" if he sleeps, he will do well." " Why, I tell you, Lazarus is 
dead ! " says Jesus. " Well, then," they say, " we may as well 
die with him : " — as much as to say, we have not another place 
to lie in, and our comforts are at an end. "Well," said Jesus, 
" I am glad I was not there, for your sakes : however, let us go 
and wake him out of his sleep." And along they go. There 
they go! That's Christ in his humanity. And yonder 's a 
little house, the home of Jesus. And a couple of disconsolate 
sisters are w T eeping as if their hearts would break ; and the very 
Jew 7 s are weeping — they 're all weeping. There a messenger 
goes in, and says, "Mary, the Master's come;" and Mary sits 
still. Why did she not go with the rest ? But Martha was up, 
— always a stirring. And away she went, and met them ; and 
as soon as she got to Christ, she fell down, and in a storm of 
emotion, she cried out, " Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother 
had not died ! " She tells Mary, " Mary ! the Master's coming, 
and calleth for thee." Mary got up, and the Jews said, " See, 
see, see, she 's going! " Yonder Jesus stands in the place, and 
as soon as Mary came up, her heart was big with grief, and she 
fell down and poured her tears at his feet, and said, " Lord, if 
thou hadst been here, my brother had not died ! " Says he, 
" Where have ye laid him?" and they said, " Come and see;" 
and the big tears began to trickle down his cheeks, and the 
Jews said, " Behold, how he loved him ! " and in these tears I 
own his manhood. He had feelings, and could feel the storm 
of emotion. " Where have ye laid him?" "Come and see." 
And as he was going, Martha said to him, " Lord, by this time 
he is not fit to be seen." " Martha," said he, " your brother 
shall rise again." " O yes ! I know he '11 rise again at the resur- 



90 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

rection." Said he, " I am the resurrection and the life : he that 
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live : and 
whoso liveth and believeth shall never die." Believest thou 
this ? And they went on together. They go, till by and by they 
come to the tomb; and they stood near the tomb, and the Jews 
gathered about. Said he, " Roll away the stone ;" and the stone 
was rolled away : and there lay Lazarus in his winding sheet, 
pale and stiff in death, for the soul had been out of the body 
four days, and there he stood. Now it is Jesus looks like a 
man. His face was like a man; he lifts up his eyes to heaven, 
and looks like a man ; and the dead stirs not. But when you 
hear the voice, it is the voice of eternity — "Lazarus, come 
forth ! " and the dead began to stir ; and the man springs on his 
feet, and Jesus says, " Loose him, and let him go ! " I own his 
Godhead there, I worship him as my God, that can raise the 
dead ; — the resurrection and the life, in whom he that believeth, 
though he were dead, yet shall he live. 

Ay, there 's another scene. I see a lake spread out before 
me ; in the midnight hour there is a little vessel laboring in a 
tremendous sea. There 's universal consternation on board that 
little ship. The sails are torn from the masts, and the tre- 
mendous waves rush in . Come, come, — take care ! Who 's that 
lying there ? Light in the forecastle there ! It 's Jesus Christ, 
asleep, in the midst of the peril, — and this is his humanity. 
Hear the cry, " Lord, save us, or we perish ! " He 's on his feet ! 
behold him now ! He stands upon the deck. His hair streams 
in the midnight winds, and the waves are in fury, and his seam- 
less coat is spirted with the spray : all is universal consterna- 
tion, and the vessel 's about to go to the bottom. " Hear, ye 
winds and waves ! Peace, peace ! be still ! " There the waves 
are; will they hear that whisper? " Peace, peace ! he still!" 
The waves crouch down before his face, and by and by there 
is not a breath ; and a mighty power levels every wave, and the 
last breaks upon the shore, and there 's a universal calm. And 
while seamen cry out, "How great a man is this, that the very 
wind and waves obey him ! " my soul bows down and adores 
him, and confesses that he 's God as well as man. Halle- 



THE FULNESS DWELLING IN JESUS CHRIST. 91 

lujah ! he is God ! This God is our God, for ever and ever ! 
Glory be to God ! 

O, praise him ! praise him ! I would say to you, may my 
God bless you ! If I had time, I would take you to the garden 
and see him there ; and I would show you him ascending up into 
light, — up into heaven, and taking his throne as Mediator; and 
would take ud that universal voice in baptism, — " In the name 
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," — and 
would bind them all together, and lay them at the feet of my 
Lord, and call upon you and upon all heaven to bring forth the 
royal diadem, and crown my Jesus Lord of all. For it pleased 
the Father that in him should all fulness dwell. 

Well, then ; let Unitarians call us madmen ; let them ridicule 
our trusting in his blood, and adoring him as God ; but while 
heaven is praising its King, and all the armies of the sky are 
praising him, and while it is said that at the name of Jesus 
every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that he is 
Lord, — with the rest of heaven — with all the good Protestants 
upon the earth — let the Unitarians say as they will, w T e will 
worship Jesus Christ as our God, as our Saviour. We will 
adore him, for upon the foundation of his Godhead the whole 
superstructure of redemption is raised. If he 's not God, his 
blood is good for nothing; it is the Godhead of Christ that gives 
efficacy to his blood. Take away the Godhead from Jesus 
Christ, and make him a mere man, and I could n't trust in his 
blood. And therefore I could not be a New Testament Chris- 
tian. He was man that he might have blood to shed; he was 
God that blood might obtain the forgiveness of sins. Join me 
in saying, with the great prophet Isaiah, " He was wounded for 
our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities ; the chas- 
tisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are 
healed." In the name of the living God, hold closely by the 
divinity of Jesus Christ our Lord. And may God help us to 
love him, serve him, and adore him ; for it pleased the Father 
that in him should all fulness dwell. 

May God bless you, through Christ Jesus ! Amen. 



SERMON VI. 

THE FEAR OF UNCONVERTED MEN IN THE HOUR OF DEATH. 

Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself 
likewise took part of the same ; that through death he might destroy him that had the 
power of death, that is, the devil. — Hebrews 2 : 14. 

Many persons in this congregation will remember that I 
preached from this text last Sunday ; but the subject is of such 
tremendous importance, — so closely connected with the weal 
or woe of your souls : the sin of neglecting a preparation for 
death involves consequences of so fearful a nature, and leaves 
the soul to encounter terrors so appalling : the sin is so preva- 
lent: the number of persons committing this soul-murdering 
crime so fearfully great, — that I am perfectly justified in again 
lifting up the voice of warning, and calling upon you to prepare 
to meet your God. 

Look ! look ! at the end of the rugged passage along which 
you are walking, there is a dark river, — dark as midnight, black 
as the blackest night. See ! as the lurid lightning plays over it, 
how rugged its entrance ! how frowning and terrible its preci- 
pices ! see how the waves swell, and the billows dash ! Hark ! 
hark ! how wild the screams of the shivering wretches, as they 
step into the bitter flood ! ! how needful a friend at that 
hour, — one that can carry poor shivering humanity through 
the swelling Jordan ! Our text points you to that friend. 

The first proposition is, that unconverted men and 
women are afraid to die t 

That you must die at some time or another, in some place 
or another, in some state or another, is a settled fact, — is an 
unalterable decree of Heaven. When you think about being torn 



THE FEAR OF UNCONVERTED MEN AT DEATH. 93 

away from friends, from home, from your possessions, your 
amusements, — of being housed up in the coffin, and laid low in 
the deep grave, — you shudder. When you think about the pale- 
ness, the pain, the fight for breath, the mortal conflict, — your 
fearful enemy rushing upon you at that hour of weakness, 
grasping you in his cold, chilly embrace, mocking your suppli- 
cations, laughing to scorn the tears and agonies of your friends, 
quenching your vital principle, turning your deathless spirit out 
on the domain of a boundless eternity, — when you think of 
that, you sicken at the thought. But, ah ! you follow your soul, 
as, like a little twinkling light, it trembles on through the 
dark valley ; there you see it rising into the presence of that 
God who is so awful in purity that the bright seraphim veil 
their faces and fall in deep adoration when he worships. Ah ! 
when you think of that meeting, — of having your life over- 
hauled, and all your principles, motives, and conduct, weighed 
in the balances, before a being of purity so awful, and to " bide 
the audit," — when you think of the consequences of that 
decision, — that you will lose or gain heaven — escape or rush 
into hell, — ah ! it is that future, that unseen world, those great 
and awful realities, that lie hid there, — you are afraid of God 
— afraid of the future ! You feel the truth of the proposition ; 
you are a wicked man, and you are afraid to die ! 

"When I was in Yorkshire, I heard a person ask this question : 
" Which impels to seek salvation most, the fear of death, or a 
desire to be happy ? " I think that is hardly a fair question ; 
these two should not be separated. There are multitudes of 
people who have no idea that religion can make them happy. 
Still they think it a good thing to die with. Have you not had 
that idea yourselves, friends ? — that religion is a good thing, 
that I may die happy ; but not a very good thing to get through 
life with. No wonder; that is what Satan suggests. The 
sacred writers say, there is a time to be born, and a time to die. 
What, then, is there no time between ? Yes, there is ; but he 
makes no account of it, there is such an uncertainty about 
human life. If a man does not think of dying, he is a brute 
in human shape ; he must have sent his judgment away. 



94 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

I have heard missionaries, on the missionary platform, exalt 
the Bible, and say that it is a blessing. I say, men make it a 
curse. Don't misunderstand me. It is one of the greatest bless- 
ings that has ever been given to man. It is a torch. It will 
light him to a knowledge of his sins ; it will light him to the 
foot of the cross ; it will light him to heaven. But it may be a 
double torch ; and if a man will not be lighted by it to heaven, 
it will light him to hell. 

It was said of Hipparchus, that he saved the people from two 
evils, or, that he bestowed upon them a double good. Before 
his time, they did not understand the nature of eclipses, and 
when the sun disappeared, they thought they were going to lose 
him altogether. When the moon was eclipsed, they could not 
tell what would be the result ; but Hipparchus pointed out the 
cause, and thus delivered them both from their ignorance and 
fear. We have the Gospel ; and the blessed Gospel is a double 
good, — it benefits both body and soul. The heathen, when he 
dies, is afraid of losing soul and body; the Christian sees he 
has his soul and body safe. Look at old Diogenes. When near 
his end, he was very drowsy ; he said to those about him, " One 
brother is delivering me over to another ; that is, brother sleep 
is delivering me over to an eternal sleep." When a wicked 
man dies in a Christian country, he may say, one brother is 
delivering me over to another brother ; death is delivering me 
over to the second death, — that is, damnation. 

When Socrates was going to drink the cup of poison, and to 
die, he said, " What will become of me, the gods only know." 
Poor Socrates ! he had not the light of the Gospel. You know 
what will become of you. Jesus Christ, when crucified by the 
Jews, lifted his eyes to heaven, and said, " Father, forgive them; 
they know not what they do." Jesus Christ could not offer this 
prayer for you. You are not ignorant in reference to your 
future prospect ; you know you are not prepared to die. 

The emperor Adrian, when about to die, addressed his soul 
thus : " ! my pretty soul, thou pleasant guest and companion 
of my body, into what place art thou now going, naked, cold, 



THE FEAR OF UNCONVERTED MEN AT DEATH. 95 

and trembling ? " One of your own English poets has taken 
up the subject very expressively — 

"Poor little fluttering thing, 
Must we no longer dwell together ? " 
* h= * * * * * 

Then concludes : " Thou hopest and fearest, thou knowest not 
what." A dying sinner in Christendom hopes and fears, he 
knows what ! 

The poet in our land of Bible light sings : 

"And am I born to die, 
To lay this body down ? 
And must my trembling spirit fly 
Into a world unknown ? " 

So far he appears on a level with Adrian ; but hear him : 

"Will angel bands convey 
Their brother to the bar ? 
Or devils drag my soul away, 
To meet its sentence there ? 
Who can resolve the doubt 
That tears my anxious breast ? 
Shall I be with the damned cast out, 
Or numbered with the blest? 
I must from God be driven, 
Or with my Saviour dwell ; 
Must come, at his command, to heaven, 
Or else depart to hell ! " 

The emperor Adrian did not think of these things ; he had n't 
the light of the Gospel. Poor trembling sinner ! don't let the 
devil make a fool of you. You may as well try to pull down 
the moon, or pluck away the stars, or blot out the sun, as try to 
blot out the light of the Bible. You cannot blot it out, though 
it condemns you. You do not wrestle with God in secret ; the 
Bible condemns you. You do not love God; the Bible con- 
demns you. You do not pray in your families ; the Bible con- 
demns you. You are a whoremonger, an adulterer, you have 
no excuse. The poor heathen, on whose mind the light has 



96 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

never shone, may find some excuse ; but you have none. 
There is light in the Gospel. Bless God ! 

It would light you to pardon, — 
It would light you to liberty, — 
It would light you to heaven. 

But that light, rejected, abused, and trifled with, will become a 
torch to light your feet down to the shades of a dark, dark, 
eternal night. 

Let any one of you be in debt; — you are at liberty, but you 
are liable to be arrested. There is a man there in debt ; the 
police follow him along the streets of Nottingham, it may be, — 
into a shop, it may be. The police seizes him by the collar ; he 
says, "You are my prisoner — come along with me." It may 
be the man is unwilling to go, but he must. Through the streets 
of Nottingham, it may be, he takes him to the judgment-seat to 
be tried. Death is God's police-officer ; he may come and seize 
you when you least expect him. He may say, " Come away to 
the judgment-seat, — you are God's prisoner;" and the poor 
fellow must go. 

God's police, a very short time ago, fetched away an infidel 
in the still hour of night, in the town of , while the inhab- 
itants were wrapt in profound slumber. An infidel felt his final 
hour approaching ; his infidelity vanished before the upbraidings 
of his guilty, awakened conscience. "Go," said the dying man, 
" to such a local preacher, and beg him to come and give me 
some advice about my soul." The messenger hastened away, 
and, though the preacher had been laid up with a bad arm, he 
dressed himself and paced his way through the silent streets, 
and, by the aid of the lamp that gleamed on his path, soon found 
his way to the door of the poor dying infidel. As he entered 
the room, the eyes of the dying man turned towards him, lit up 
with an unearthly lustre ; — his very soul seemed gleaming in 
his eyes ; he cried, " O, sir, save me, save me, do save me ! " 

" My friend, I cannot save you ; God alone can save you, — 
cry to him for salvation." 

" O, sir, do you save me ! " 



THE FEAR OF UNCONVERTED MEN AT DEATH. 97 

Said the preacher, " God sometimes makes man the instru- 
ment of enlightening a dark mind like yours, but he alone can 
save your soul." The preacher knelt down and pleaded with 
God that he would save the man, — pleaded with unusual lib- 
erty; pleaded, read, and exhorted him for two hours. The 
expiring man listened with the deepest attention, and appeared 
to drink in every word that fell from the lips of the man of God. 
At length, the devil seemed to make his last effort, and we are 
grieved to add we fear a successful one. When the preacher 
expected symptoms of penitence, he roused himself up as though 
a fiend had taken possession of him ; he began to swear in a 
most horrible manner, and to blaspheme the name of God. He 
turned his eyes upon the preacher and said, " Out, out of my 
room ! If I could reach you, I would dash your brains out ! " The 
preacher said, " I knew he was too weak to leave his bed to reach 
me. I felt resolved, however, not to give up the contest; I 
therefore knelt down again, and pleaded with God for his salva- 
tion. As 'death approached, — as the dimness of the grave 
began to gather over him, — as the room was growing dark to 
his fading sight, — he became more and more furious. The 
tones of agonizing prayer and the horrible ravings of the 
infidel blended in wild confusion, and doubtless presented to 
heaven and hell a scene of fearful conflict, of intense interest. 
The closing scene was evidently fast approaching, — the struggle 
was reaching its climax. The moment that was to fix him in 
heaven or hell was just at hand. The scene was intensely 
exciting. The quiet that reigned without in the street, the 
solemn hour of midnight, added to the solemnity of the scene. 
Nothing was heard now but the two voices, — that of prayer 
and swearing vieing with each other in energy. The fatal mo- 
ment now arrived, — the whole frame of the infidel was con- 
vulsed in the agonies of death. He fixed his two elbows on the 
pillow, raised himself up in the bed, and, with a wild and fright- 
ful scream, cried, ' O God, this moment damn my soul ! ' " — 
he fell back upon the pillow, and expired. The scene on earth 
closed, and the eyes of another world looked upon the sequel. 
Such was the death of this infidel, and that too only a very short 
9 



98 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

time ago. Let me tell you, you sinners, that if you reject Jesus 
Christ, you have no guarantee that your death will not be an 
equally horrible one. It may not exhibit all the tragic scenes 
of the one to which I have referred ; but, if you neglect the 
religion of Jesus Christ, you will be as really damned as the 
infidel. 

The case we have referred to above is another proof of the 
truth of our proposition, that unconverted men are afraid to die. 
Death, we said, is God's police-officer, and he is abroad. He 
may seize you at any moment, and say, "Come away; you are 
God's prisoner ! " and you must go. O ! if you are not ready ! 

The second proposition is, that a Christian is not afraid 
to die. 

Death to him is a physical dissolution ; it is a spiritual vic- 
tory. We have visited death-beds where the poor fellows could 
not move an arm or a foot, — but it was peace. He is going 
to die like a little child ; and in death he triumphs. A 

There was a dying chief in Scotland, belonging to one of the 
Scotch clans. A friend wanted to see him. No ! he could not 
be seen ; he did not want to be seen but in armor. The friend 
was importunate ; he must see him. Well, if he must see me, 
buckle on my armor. They raised him up in bed, and buckled 
on his armor. He saw his friend, and lay down to die. The 
Christian dies in armor. 

Addison, when he was about to die, said to a young man (a 
young libertine, I believe he was), " Come and see how a Chris- 
tian can die." The Christian dies in confidence. 

There is a monument erected to General Wolfe, and on it are 
inscribed the words, " Here died Wolfe victorious ! " If they 
would put up a monument where every Christian dies, the earth 
would b.e full of monuments. He dies victorious ! Hallelujah ! 
hallelujah ! 

There is sometimes hard struggling about death. I knew a 
blessed woman about to die, yet she was afraid. A friend said 
to her, "Why, what are you afraid of?" She replied, " I am 
not afraid to die. But the death struggle." — "Why, sister, 



THE FEAR OF UNCONVERTED MEN AT DEATH. 99 

your hands are cold ; the blood is going away from under your 
nails ; you are just now dying ! " She praised God, and died 
peacefully and triumphantly. Bless God ! 

Many children in the Sunday-schools which are to be found 
in this land, as nurseries for heaven, are saved from the fear of 
death. The Sunday-school children can play with the lion's 
mane. Isa. 11 : 8, — " And the sucking child shall play on the 
hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the 
cockatrice's den." Old men have been saved from the fear of 
death. When the almond-tree flourishes, the grasshopper is a 
burden, desire fails, and they are afraid of that which is high, 
and of things that may be in their way. But they are not afraid 
to die ; some of them die gloriously. 

In the State of Massachusetts there was an old saint. He 
had preached the truth for thirty years. This old servant of 
God went to die among his own children. One day he looked 
very solemn. No wonder, — it is a solemn thing to die. His 
son came to him, and said, "Father, are you afraid to die ?" 
" No, Samuel," said he, " I have been prepared for death for 
thirty years." When he was brought near to the verge, in the 
last conflict, foot to foot with the enemy, he cried out, " O glo- 
rious ! glorious ! " 

In Baltimore there was a physician — one of God's saints. 
He was not afraid to kneel down by his patients ; he gave 
medicine for the soul, as well as the body ; and when he lay 
down to die, he said, "I am as happy as I can live ! Halle- 
lujah ! hallelujah ! " The room was ringing with the praises 
of God. One of the physicians came to him and said, " Doctor, 
we know you are happy ; but we think you will shorten life, if 
you shout, — so whisper, whisper, doctor." " Let angels whis- 
per ! Let angels whisper ! Let angels whisper ! But if I had 
a voice as loud as seven thunders, I would make the world 
hear." 

Females are saved from the fear of death. Delicate and ner- 
vous females have had the mind braced up for the last conflict. 
One of them, when brought near the close of life, said, " I am 
not afraid ; I see the grave ; I see the worm, but I see my Jesus. 



100 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

I am happy ; bless God, my soul is happy ! " That is how 
females can die, bless God ! 

There was a disease in North America — an epidemic. Some 
thought the Lord would save our pastor ; but oh ! the epidemic 
spread — the pastor was seized, and his wife too. For a good 
man some would even dare to die, and there were those who 
would have been willing to die that the pastor might live ; but 
the Lord did not see good that it should be so. But the servant 
of God was willing to die, and oh ! how triumphant as he lay ! 
He exclaimed, " They are coming ! they are coming ! they are 
coming ! Glory ! glory ! glory ! " 

His wife was in the other room ; she appeared to be dozing. 
They heard a voice coming out of the room, and she was saying, 
" Is that he ? Is that he ? Is he gone ? " 

They replied, " Yes, he is gone." 

" When did he die ? Was he triumphant ? " 

" Yes, triumphant." 

" He is gone ! now I am happy ; I have done my work ; I 
will follow now," she cried, and died. Bless the Lord ! Amen. 



SERMON VII. 

QUENCHING THE SPIRIT. 

Quench not the Spirit. — 1 Thess. 5 : 19. 

" Don't kill yourself! " once wrote a gentleman to a minister 
who was laboring Jealously for God; "don't kill yourself! " he 
wrote at the bottom of a long sheet, in large letters. So you 
may say to me, " Don't make so much ado about religion ; don't 
kill yourself." But we must do the work of God, let the con- 
sequence be what it will ; and, if we should die a few years 
sooner, it will be all right, — we should be happy, and the work 
would go on. As Charles Wesley observes, " God buries his 
workmen, and carries on his work." But to the point. Every 
one of you has his own particular way of sinning. Some are 
in the habit of neglecting the house of God ; you say you wor- 
ship God in the great temple, under the canopy of heaven. If 
you had been in Palestine, you would have objected to the build- 
ing of the Temple. 

I shall meet you at the day of judgment, and I hope you will 
have to bless God that you and a stranger met together in "Wes- 
ley Chapel. If you cannot; go with me in my remarks all the 
way, go with me as far as you can, and may God bless you. 

The passage I have chosen as a text has been impressed on 
my mind this day with very solemn weight : — Quench not the 
Spirit ! Quench not the Spirit ! Quench not the Spirit ! 

I. The Spirit's operations are true. 

I see now before my imagination a range of mountains that 
I crossed a few months ago — the Alpine mountains. - There 
are awful precipices on that Alpine range. There is a sol- 
itary about to cross that range of mountains. It is mid- 
night. There is no moon ; there are no stars to be seen ; it is 
pitchy dark. The solitary takes his lamp; it is well trimmed; 
9* 



102 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

he knows its value, for he knows the darkness of the night, the 
narrowness of the way, and the precipices on the right and on 
the left. But his friend comes to him, just at starting, and says, 
" Take care of your lamp, for if you put it out, you will be in 
a most dangerous place. Quench not the light I Quench not the 
light!" 

Sinner, the way to heaven is over the mountains. The way 
is narrow and difficult ; the night is dark ; but, with the light 
of truth, and the light of the Spirit, you may find your way, and 
land safe in the fair regions of heaven ! Hallelujah ! halle- 
lujah ! Now, backslider, you were converted about ten years 
ago, it may be, and if ever anybody was happy, you were ; but 
you have yielded to the devil, and allowed the light to go out. 

I told you this morning that providence was God in motion, 
God in nature : and nature is true. There is a certainty about 
the laws of nature. The laws of attraction, repulsion, adhesion, 
and gravitation, are to be relied upon, because they are the laws 
of God. God is true in his operations, — his designs are per- 
fect ; and if I can depend upon his motions, cannot I depend 
upon his words ? Why should I depend upon his motions pro- 
ducing spring and summer, harvest and winter, and not depend 
upon the words of his mouth ? Do you think he is a dumb God ? 
Do you think he has no voice ? 

God has spoken. He has caused his words to be written down 
in a book — the Bible. There is no book professing to come 
from God but this. This book is the expression of his mouth ; 
they are the words of God's mind. There is no other book 
throughout the intellectual world that comes from God ; and as 
there is a certainty in the laws of nature, so there is a certainty 
in the word of God. There is a certainty in the Spirit of God. 

Shall I relate to you a part of my own experience, — not what I 
have heard or read in dusty books, but what I have known in my 
own experience ? This little head of mine had been very busy 
to get as much knowledge as possible, in preparing for the min- 
istry — all very right in its place. The Lord took me aside. I 
did not see a vision, I did not hear a voice, but the impression 
was made deeply upon my mind. — 1st. The absolute necessity 



QUENCHING THE SPIRIT. 103 

of praying more earnestly and constantly. — 2d. That, without 
the Spirit of God attending my ministry, I should be as a tree 
without fruit, and as clouds without rain. 

It was a stray leaf on one of the mountains in America, 
that was the means, in the hands of God, of producing that 
change which from that time was to be observed. The words 
upon that stray leaf were written in England, by Dr. Adam 
Clarke. Little did he think that those words Would be wafted 
on to the mountains in America, and be made an instrument of 
so much good. 

Perhaps some of you are saying, Do you recollect the words ? 
I do; they were these: — "All this scriptural and rational 
preaching will be useless, without the Spirit of God. Without 
the Holy Ghost, we are but as a sounding brass, and a tinkling 
cymbal : but with the Holy Ghost, the word must be effective, — 
sinners must be converted." These words of truth must be 
guarded, because, under a luminous burning agency, a man may 
grieve the Spirit, and go to hell at last. 

God's winds wafted the doctor's remarks across to the Ameri- 
can shores ; they were transferred from the leaves of the book, 
and written with the Spirit of God. On the leaves of this poor 
memory of mine there was then a great important truth written; 
now see the deep and wonderful counsel of this same Spirit, first 
sending a passage across the ocean, writing that passage on this 
poor heart of mine, and then wafting me like a stray leaf back 
to the shores of old England, to utter this great truth — this all- 
important truth, — "The necessity of a larger measure of the 
Holy Ghost in the ministry, in the Church, and in the ivorld" 

Hear the circumstances that led me to these shores : — The 
step was not taken on the spur of the moment, but was the sub- 
ject of calm deliberation, during several months. Our Confer- 
ence of 1839 was held in New York ; that year I was appointed 
to Whitehall, New York. 

I began to reflect upon the propriety of choosing a wife ; but 
while indulging in this purpose, for some reasons I cannot 
explain, my heart became very hard, the Lord seemed to depart 
from me, and my soul appeared now to be mantled in the thick- 



104 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

est gloom. God, who had honored me with such intimate com- 
munion with himself since my conversion, apparently left me to 
battle it out alone. 

My distress and gloom were so great, 1 could not unpack my 
library, nor arrange my study. I began to reflect on my unhappy 
state of mind. The world was a blank — a bleak, howling wil- 
derness to my soul, without the smiles of my Saviour. In fact, I 
could not live, but must wither away from the face of the earth 
without his comforting and satisfying presence. With many 
tears, I besought him to reveal again his face to my soul : that if 
my purposes were crossing his, to show me ; and whatever was 
his will, I would at once, by his help, yield my soul unto it. 
11 Lord God," I said, " if my will crosses thy will, then my will 
must be wrong ; for thine cannot but be right" Now, I cared 
not what he commanded me to do, or leave undone j I stood ready 
to obey. I felt assured clear light from God on some point 
would reach my soul ; but I no more expected such an order as 
came soon after, than I expected he would command me to fly 
upward and preach the Gospel in another planet. During three 
days I cried to God, without any answer. On the third day, in 
the afternoon, I obtained an audience with the Lord. The place 
was almost as lonely as Horeb, where Moses saw the burning 
bush. It was under the open sky, a considerable distance from 
the habitations of men ; steep rocks and mountains, deep forests, 
and venomous reptiles, surrounded me. Here, and in a moment, 
the following passage was given me to plead : — " And the Lord 
descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and pro- 
claimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before 
him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and 
gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; 
keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving inquity and transgression 
and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty." — Exod. 
34 : 5, 6, 7. I took hold of this ; many of the words were as 
fire, and as a hammer to break the rocks in pieces before the 
Lord. The fountains of tears were opened, and the great deep 
of my heart was broken up. I left the place, however, without 
receiving any light; but my heart was fully softened and sub- 



QUENCHING THE SPIRIT. 105 

dued, and I felt assured I had prevailed in some way with 
God. I was confident light and direction were coming ; but of 
what nature I could not tell. This was on the 9th of July, 
1S39. The same evening, about twilight, — eternal glory be to 
God! — when reading in a small room adjoining my study, a 
light, as I conceived from heaven, reached me. My soul was 
singularly calmed and warmed by a strange visitation. In the 
moment I recognized the change. The following, in substance, 
was spoken to my heart, but in a manner, and with a rapidity I 
cannot possibly describe. Every ray of divine glory seemed to 
be a word, that the eye of my soul could read — a sentence 
which my judgment could perceive and understand: — " These 
matters which trouble thee must be let entirely alone. The 
will of God is, that thou shouldst visit Europe. He shall be 
with thee there, and give thee many seals to thy ministry. He 
has provided thee with funds. Make thy arrangements accord- 
ingly ; and next Conference ask liberty from the proper authori- 
ties, and it shall be granted thee. Visit Canada first ; when this 
is done, sail for England. God shall be with thee there, and 
thou shalt have no want in all thy journeyings ; and thou shalt 
be brought back in safety again to America." 

The above is far beneath the dignity and grandeur of the impres- 
sion. It was like the breaking forth of the noon-day sun at mid- 
night. I fell upon my knees before the Lord, and, oh ! the sweet- 
ness of the communion I then enjoyed with God. My sky was 
cloudless. My rest of soul unutterable. I arose from my knees un- 
der the strong conviction that God had called me to take this tour. 

The time for the sitting of Conference arrived ; I presented 
my request, and a resolution was passed that I should have 
liberty to visit Europe. The Spirit's operations are true. 

II. The Spirit's operations may be quenched. 

You cannot stop the sun in his course ; you cannot roll back 
the tide ; you cannot stop the raging tempest ; but you can 
quench the Spirit's operations. For God's government over 
you is quite different to that exerted over mere matter ; he does 
not govern you as he governs the sun, the tide, and the tempest : 



106 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

his government over you is a government of motives — a moral 
government. Quench not the Spirit. You may extinguish- 
this holy fire in many ways. Neglect to put fuel to the fire, 
and it will go out; — cover it with ashes, that no air can get to 
it, — pour water upon it, — and it will go out. The Spirit of 
God is easily grieved. Do not quench it. " But," says one, " I 
have quenched the Spirit, for my heart is as hard as a rock." 
Are you willing to give up sin ? Have you any desire to be 
saved from sin, from hell to heaven? If so, you have not 
quenched the Spirit, — you may be saved. 

There 's a backslider here ; you were once happy, — you loved 
the house of God ; 't is a mercy that his influences are not totally 
quenched. There is an importance about that uneasiness in 
your mind. There is something about you with which you are 
not acquainted. Ah ! that may be the last uneasiness you may 
ever have upon earth — the last time the Spirit may ever strive 
with you, if you do not give your heart to God. 

A young man once said, " After I have been to the ball, I will 
give my heart to God." The Spirit was making the last effort 
with him. He went to the ball, and died on the floor. As 
others have been damned, you may be damned. Take care ! 
take care ! Quench not the Spirit. 

There 's a man who is a tippler ; he goes on tippling, tippling, 
till he tipples into hell. Brandy, rum, gin, and such intoxicat- 
ing drinks, are the devil's agents. Thank God for teetotalism ! 

A man on the Hudson river was very unhappy, under a con- 
cern for his soul. He said to his wife, " I am very unhappy." 
She succeeded in turning his attention away from his concern 
for his soul ; he died unhappy. 

A man came to chapel some time ago ; the word came under a 
luminous burning agency upon his soul, which made him say, 
" I cannot stand it." So out he went to a dram-shop, where he 
had some liquor; he said, "I think I can stand it now." He 
went to the chapel again, but the word was too much for him; 
he went out again, got some more drink : in the morning he was 
found dead. You won't burn your bodies out, perhaps ; but you 
will swear, perhaps. You will lie, perhaps ; you will break the 



QUENCHING THE SPIRIT. 107 

Sabbath, perhaps; you will practise uncleanness, perhaps; you 
will neglect to pray, perhaps. In any of these ways you may 
quench the Spirit. What will be the consequences, if you grieve 
the Spirit ? You will be able to disbelieve the Bible, — to be 
an Infidel, — to look upon hell as a scare-crow, — on heaven as 
a fairy-land, — the character of God as a fiction; — you will be 
able to launch forth into boundless Atheism, — you will be able 
to go quietly down to the grave, without any concern about it, 
— at last, you will drop into hell. Those who quench the Spirit 
of God do it at the peril of their damnation. 

Now, let every one in God's presence kneel down, let every 
head be bowed before the Lord, and let every one that can say 
after me, " I renounce the devil and all his works. I promise, 
God being my helper, to leave my wicked companions, and use 
every means in my power to secure the salvation of my soul." 



SERMON VIII. 

THE STRIVING OF THE SPIRIT. 

And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man. —Gen. 6: 3. 

This is a declaration of God concerning the antediluvian 
world. He was about to destroy them, but could not let fall one 
drop of water — one flash of lightning — one spark of fire ; he 
could neither drown nor damn a man of them till the Spirit had 
done striving with them. For the long space of an hundred and 
twenty years, — the period during which the ark was preparing, 

— the Holy Ghost strove with them ; and when the ark was 
ready, God went round it, and shut every window and every 
door, and he shut in Noah and his family. The sound of those 
closing doors, as it echoed among the hills, announced mercy 
fled and wrath begun. The door was shut. Then the fury of 
God broke forth ; and rush met rush, and flood met flood, and 
cataract met cataract, and tempest met tempest, till the last sin- 
ner cursed God and went down. The storm raged on still ; in 
fury, in awful sublimity, it broke forth in one wild scene of 
boundless grandeur. "And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not 
always strive with man." 

In my text we have two points, — 

i. a great fact stated the striving of the spirit. 

ii. a dreadful event predicted the cessation of the 

Spirit's striving. 

First, a great fact stated. There is about this fact two things 

— a necessity and a certainty. 

First, a necessity. What do you mean, says one, by a neces- 
sity ? I mean, firstly, there will be no concern about the soul's 
salvation, without the strivings of the Spirit. Without the 



THE STRIVING OF THE SPIRIT. 109 

Spirit, man is in darkness — in total darkness. He is dark- 
ness itself; there is not a glimmer in his soul. He is in death's 
shadow ; and when a man is in the shadow, the substance is not 
far off. He is as dark as a Hottentot ; yea, he is as dark as a 
devil. It is by the Spirit he is convinced — alarmed. It is by 
the Spirit the memory is refreshed — the conscience aroused. 
Yea, that unbidden tear, telling that all is not yet lost ; that 
softening tendency, that melting down into contrition, those 
throes of agony in the soul, — all, all are the work of the Spirit. 
It is by the Spirit he is enabled to look to the Lamb of God that 
taketh away the sins of the world. Without the Spirit, no con- 
viction of sin, no contrition for the past, no softening tendency, 
no melting view of Calvary, no concern for the soul, will ever be 
felt. These influences may be resisted, and this resistance may 
be carried on to a point in the history, until conscience lays down 
its functions. Then the heart is as hard as a stone, and the 
understanding as dark as hell can make it. Then the sinner is 
like a ship half foundered, in midnight darkness, on a stormy 
sea, — masts gone, helm broken, and compass lost, left to the 
mercy of the winds and waves. Then, though he may drop a 
tear over the grave of some loved one, he will turn up towards 
the God that redeemed him the brazen front of sullen rebellion ; 
the iron hardness will be on his soul, but an infidel he cannot 
become, till the Spirit has given him up. Genuine infidelity 
can never take place till the Spirit has ceased to strive. See 
him — on, and on, and on he rushes ! The space between him 
and hell lessens — lessens every step. The lightnings from the 
Bible flash around him — but, no feeling ! The thunder from 
Sinai roars — but, no feeling ! ! The lurid fires of hell glare 
up in the distance — but, NO FEELING! !! —he is LET 
ALONE ! O, my God ! of all the curses of heaven, save me 
and my friends from the curse of being let alone. 

I mean, secondly, there will be no success in the ministry, 
without the Spirit. There will be no real heavenly fire, without 
Divine influence. "Whatever sparks of his own kindling there 
may be, the coldness of death and the chilliness of the grave will 
be on the minister's soul. I care not however eloquent, how- 
10 



110 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

ever persuasive, however pathetic, he may be. He may kindle 
up with all the fire of Cicero, and thunder with the eloquence 
of a Demosthenes ; he may have at his command all the range 
of Bible literature, be master of criticism, wield with giant 
intellect the doctrines of revelation, and all will be no mofe 
than the chirping of a grasshopper. 

What is the best machinery, without a moving power ? "What 
would your best railway engines do, without a moving power? 
Of what use would be your great vessels on the deep, without a 
moving power ? And we tell you that even all the grand ma- 
chinery of the Gospel will do nothing, without a moving power 
— the power of the Holy Ghost. The soul lies imbedded under 
thick layers of darkness, and bound up in fetters of iron. None 
but the Almighty Spirit can emancipate it from its bondage and 
snap its fetters ; 't is under the lightning flashes of the Spirit — 
under Holy Ghost preaching — that the soul is made to cry out, 
" What must I do to be saved ? " 

Secondly, there is a certainty about the striving of the Spirit. 

I tell you, no man can go to hell-fire till the Spirit has first 
striven with him, and given him up. That the Spirit strives 
with all, is evident from the following considerations : 1. Christ 
died for all. 2. The experience of both saints and sinners tes- 
tifies to it. 3. Salvation is impossible without it. 4. It is only 
on this ground that God can judge and condemn the wicked. 
He has been striving with you, and there are some characters 
here that have been grieving the Spirit of God. You are im- 
pressed on my heart, and I have from my God a message unto 
you. O, if ever I felt his blessed Spirit with me, I feel he is 
with me now. 

1. The first character I name is the backslider. You have 
been grieving the Spirit of God. I would not seek to arouse 
your passions to excite and frighten you ; but I would calmly 
appeal to your judgments. But, ah ! why do I do this ? Your 
judgments are enlightened ; you know your duty ; and, if you 
go to hell, you will go there encircled with a halo of heavenly 
light. But I don't want to shut your hearts against me, neither 
do I want to drive you to despair. What a mercy of high heaven 



THE STRIVING OF THE SPIRIT. Ill 

it is, that you are not in the deeps of hell ! What a mercy it is that 
you are in the house of God to-night ! I cannot tell whether you 
belong to this congregation, or to some other, or to none ; whether 
you are rich or poor, old or young ; whether you fell by little and 
liftle, or whether you fell at once, into some awful crime ; whether 
you fell by tippling, by an act of dishonesty, or by whoremon- 
gering, — this, I know, you are a backslider, and you are here. 
There are just two points about your case. You have been very 
miserable for the last three months ; like a wandering dove, you 
have had no rest. Now, I tell you, you will soon be in your 
winding-sheet, or converted to God. It will be the one, or the 
other. My God has sent me with this message to you. The 
devil has hold of you, and the Spirit of God has hold of you, 
and both are striving with you ; one or the other will soon pre- 
vail. O, my brother ! it will soon be Christ or the devil, 
heaven or hell, salvation or damnation. O ! is there nothing 
that can reach you ? Let me call your remembrance to the 
time when you were happy — happy as a saint — happy in God. 
You walked and talked with God ; and around him, as the cen- 
tral point of bliss, your spirit circled. With what joy did you 
look up to heaven as your home ! Those were blessed days — 
but they are gone. I could say much to alarm you ; but one 
poor sinner ought not to be harsh with another. I know that I 
myself ought to have been sent to hell years ago ; but the Lord 
had mercy upon me, and pardoned my sins, and sanctified my 
soul, and has kept me for years. And now I say to you, with a 
tender heart, O, my brother, you are on the edge of the pit ! — 
on the brink of the burning lake ! Another step, and you may 
pass the verge, and splash on the fiery wave. Come away! 
Come away ! ! O, COME AWAY TO JESUS ! ! ! 

Your distressing case reminds me of an affecting incident 
connected with the explosion of an American steamer, a few 
years ago. The vessel was on her voyage from Savannah to 
New York. In a dangerous sea, and in the dead hour of he 
night, the boiler burst, and about one hundred souls were 
launched into eternity. The vessel was torn to pieces ; and, 
upon a few fragments of the wreck, with the mast lying across 



112 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

it, a number of human beings floated out to sea. They contin- 
ued to drift further and further from land, till nothing but sky 
and water met their view. During four days, the scorching sun 
poured his rays upon their almost naked bodies, till they were 
blistered. They had no food to satisfy the craving of hunger : 
their tongues were scorched with thirst ; and to drink the salt 
water they knew would only increase the dreadful feeling. A 
hint was given by one of the sufferers that they should cast lots 
who should die for the sustenance of the rest ; but the idea of 
eating the flesh and drinking the blood of a fellow-being was 
rejected with horror. As they were gazing intently into the far- 
off horizon, they were cheered with what at first appeared a dark 
spot, but which soon brightened into a sail. They raised their 
little flag of distress, but it was unnoticed, and the vessel disap- 
peared. After some time another hove in view, but the signal 
was not seen, and she vanished away. In like manner two 
others appeared, but, to their anguish, they also passed out of 
sight. " Hope deferred maketh the heart sick." After several 
hours had elapsed, another sail appeared ; it seemed as if it was 
pasted on the sky. Soon its shape altered; the outlines of a 
vessel could now be traced ; and, to their trembling joy, seemed 
to be nearing them. Ah, the captain of that ship little thought 
how many eyes were fixed with a gaze of agony upon the white 
sail of his stately vessel ! They hoisted their signal of distress 
once more, and uttered their, feeble cries; but, alas! she also 
appeared to be shaping her course in another direction. One 
poor fellow, who had been dreadfully scalded, looked himself 
into despair, cried out, " She is gone ! " and laid himself down 
to die. The time of extremity was God's opportunity. One 
eye from the vessel caught the signal ; the word was passed to 
the deck, and resounded through the ship, — "A wreck! a 
wreck ! " In a few moments she began to bear down towards 
them. One of the sufferers, perceiving the change in their 
course, uttered the cry, " She sees us ! she is coming towards 
us!" 

Nearing them rapidly, the vessel loomed up within a short 
listance of them, and the clangor of the captain's trumpet rang 



THE STRIVING OF THE SPIRIT. 113 

over the waves, — " Be of good cheer — I will save you ! " I 
need scarcely tell you they were soon on board, filled with ador- 
ing gratitude to God, and thanksgiving to their deliverer. Your 
state of soul reminds me of the perilous condition of these ship- 
wrecked passengers. You were sailing onward to heaven with 
a happy soul, and the breezes of grace were propitious ; but an 
explosion took place, to the astonishment of Heaven, and you 
" made shipwreck of faith and a good conscience." Thank 
God, you have not gone down to hell, like many other back- 
sliders ! You have floated out upon the mere fragments of your 
hopes, into the ocean of despair. You have grieved the Spirit ; 
and of you it may well be said — 

" His passage lies across the brink 
Qf many a threatening wave, 
And hell expects to see him sink, 
But Jesus lives to save!" 

Yes, " Jesus lives to save ; " and it is written, " He is able to 
save to the uttermost." The promises have been obscured from 
the eye of your faith by strong temptation. Again and again 
you have found yourself unable to reach them ; and, like the 
vessels which hovered for a little before the vision of those dis- 
tressed persons, and then vanished, so have the promises to your 
apprehension ; but the God of the promises is at hand. If we 
could but induce you to repent, to lift up your signal of distress, 
your signal would be seen in heaven. The Captain of your sal- 
vation would draw nigh, and you would exclaim, " He sees me ! 
he sees me ! he is coming towards me ! he is — see ! " 

' ' Lo ! on the wings of love he flies, 
And brings salvation nigh." 

O ! you would hear the voice of your great Deliverer, saying, 
" Be of good cheer — I will save you." But persist in grieving 
the Holy Spirit, and your doom is sealed. 

2. There is another character in this congregation. I don't 

know whether you are a backslider or not. You may be decent 

in your conduct ; you may respect religion, — believe in its great, 

awful, and solemn verities ; but you are undecided, — you halt. 

10* 



114 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

You have a father and a mother unconverted, who, in all proba- 
bility would give their hearts to God if you would lead the way. 
You have been laid on a bed of affliction ; you solemnly prom- 
ised God to serve him ; but your resurrection to health was a 
resurrection to sin. God has been striving to convert you, to 
make your conversion instrumental in the salvation of your 
parents, but you have stood out ; and my God has sent me 
solemnly to warn you against the soul-destroying sin of putting 
off. I tell you, if you refuse, God will speedily send death, — 
the winding sheet, — the coffin, — the white border round your 
face, — the shut eye, — the blanched cheek, — the cold, cold 
grave. I tell you, if you refuse to let God preach a sermon to 
your parents from your conversion, he will preach a sermon to 
them from that coffin, — from your pale corpse, — from your 
shut eye, your bordered face, your blanched cheek, your yawn- 
ing grave. I tell you, it will soon be the one or the other, — 
conversion or damnation. What shall it be ? Will you now 
yield to God ? You delay — you grieve the blessed Spirit; and 
he comes less and less powerfully every time. God says, " My 
Spirit shall not always strive with man." Come, oh my God ! 
, and save this halting soul ! 

3. There is another character in this congregation deeply 
impressed on my heart. You are a pew-holder, and a friend to 
the preachers. I hope you are not too great a friend. I mean, 
you invite them to your homes on Sunday evenings, after preach- 
ing — to your hospitality, to your ale and wine. They make 
engagements to take supper with you previous to going to their 
appointments : their word must be kept ; and the consequence 
is, the prayer-meeting is left — penitents are not led to Jesus, 
and the churches do not nourish. Ah, this hospitality! The 
ale and wine have been the bane of Methodist preachers, and 
the curse of Methodism.^ I tell you, you are a curse to the 
churches. I don't mean to say you intend to do the preachers 



* Let us praise God that this is not applicable to the American clergy : 
and let us pray that the principles of total abstinence may be speedily 
embraced by our English brethren. — Editor. 



THE STRIVING OF THE SPIRIT. 115 

harm. No; you love the ministers, and I honor you for it. If 
you saw one of them poorly clad, you would put your hand in 
your pocket and give him a suit of clothes. I say, I honor you 
for your love to God's servants ; still your table, your ale, your 
wine, have proved a snare. The Lord save you from being a 
curse to his church ! You are a pew-holder, — you have had a 
seat in God's house for the last fifteen years. I might go 
further, — no; I stop just there, — fifteen years, — just fifteen 
years. I will not attempt to say how much evil you have done 
by your example ; how many souls you have prevented from 
joining the people of God ; how much you have impeded the 
Redeemer's progress. I will not stop to say why God sent 
leanness into your soul ; why you have not prospered in business ; 
nor why God has cursed your property and cursed your family. 
For fifteen years the blessed Spirit has been wooing, alluring, 
arguing, and trying to turn you to God ; but, while this planet 
has rolled round the sun fifteen times, you have been fighting 
against God! Let me now solemnly, in the sight of high 
Heaven, ask you, — 

1st. How long do you mean to remain as you are ? 

2nd. How long do you mean to rebel against God ? 

Depend upon it, matters will not long continue as they are. 
God has a controversy with you ; he will ere long bring it to a 
close : the crisis is approaching. If you intend to be saved, you 
must make haste, and delay not. Your conscience is almost 
seared ; sermons are scarcely of any use to you ; under the soul- 
subduing scenes of Calvary you melt not ; the judgments of God 
make upon you but little impression. Your damnation slum- 
bereth not. This message to you, if not the savor of life unto 
life, will be of death unto death. O ! I am afraid I am prepar- 
ing some of you for the fever, — the pestilence, — the winding 
sheet ; I mean you who are resisting the Spirit. You have been 
listening to the knockings, — the knockings of the Holy Ghost; 
but you have closed and barred up the door of your heart. The 
last knocking will come, for the Lord said, " My Spirit shall not 
always strive with man." Great God ! touch to-night this pew- 
holder's heart ! 



116 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

4. One character more. You have joined some church ; you 
pass for a Christian ; you go the round of Christian duties ; but 
you have no happiness, — no living joy, — no bright hope, — no 
burning love. I ask you, do you think you have ever been con- 
verted ? When was it ? Under what ci?' cum stances did it take 
place ? Is it possible that such a change could have taken place, 
and you know nothing of it ? There was a time when the 
Spirit strove with you. Yes, he has been striving with you by 
that hard heart, that lean soul, that standing doubt. And you 
cannot tell but that the influence which is now moving on your 
soul may be the last effort Heaven will make for your salvation. 
What I want to do to-night is, to arouse you to a sense of the 
peril of your situation. What can be done to awaken you from 
your deep and death-like slumbers ? You are here, here before 
God. I have described your character, — you know it. You 
have a witness in your own bosom. You feel — you know you 
are not right; but it is not too late, — you may yet be saved. 
But when the Spirit is gone, damnation follows. 

I proceed to state the results of resisting God's Holy Spirit. 

II. The dreadful event predicted, — the withdrawal 
of the Spirit. 

First, the fact. Under the Jewish economy there was a law 
of extremity ; there were sins for which there was no forgiveness, 
— no blood, no lamb, no sacrifice, no provision made. Is there 
such a law under the Christian dispensation ? I answer, there 
is ; and that law Jesus Christ read up eighteen hundred years 
ago. It is contained in Matt. 12 : 31. " All manner of sin and 
blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against 
the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men." This sin. is 
not some sudden work, not some one deed, but a quenching of 
the. Spirit, — a settled resistance, day by day, till the blessed 
Spirit is vexed, quenched, driven away. Dr. Chalmers observes, 
on this subject, " The sin against the Holy Ghost is not some 
awful and irrevocable deed, around which a disordered fancy has 
thrown a superstitious array, and which beams in deeper terror 
upon the eye of the mind from the very obscurity by which it is 



THE STRIVING OF THE SPIRIT. 117 

encompassed." No ; it is resisting the Holy Wooer, till he has 
left us alone. Than being left alone by the Spirit, there is but 
one thing more awful can happen to a sinner, and that is damna- 
tion. I again say, nothing this side of hell-fire is so bad as to 
be given up by the Spirit. 

Secondly, the consequences. 

1. Left without feeling; as the Bible says, past feeling. 

2. Left without desire. 

3. He will die very suddenly. 

I believe, in my soul, that the cause of multitudes of sudden 
deaths is the quenching of the Spirit. " There is a sin unto 
death ; I do not say that he shall pray for it." 1 John 5 : 16, 17. 

This sin may be of a two-fold character, relating both to body 
and soul. 

Relating, first, to the body. God lays that young woman on 
the bed of death in the morning of her days, in the very bloom of 
life ; she has sinned a sin unto the death of the body. There, 
amidst the pain of a dissolving frame, she sheds tears of bitter 
repentance ; and there, in that last struggle, in life's last hour, 
finds mercy. She is just saved, — saved as by the skin of her 
teeth : the soul saved, the body destroyed. Take care that some 
of you do not go to the grave before your time. 

I hope, in introducing my own experience here, I shall not be 
thought guilty of egotism. I have had, for years, a list of persons 
to pray for ; and, when one dies, I strike off that name, and put 
on another. Letter after letter comes, announcing the death of 
some one or other of them. 0, how many has death struck off 
my list ! I hope you Christians have your lists. Whether you 
have or not, the great Jesus has you all on his list, and he pleads 
for you ; but there is a limit to his pleading. He is represented, 
in the parable of the barren fig-tree, as saying, " Let it alone 
this year also, and if it bring forth fruit, well ; but if not, after 
that thou shalt cut it down." As soon as ever Jesus shall strike 
you off his list, the Holy Ghost will give you up: then, when 
the Holy Ghost gives you up, damnation follows : this is the 
consequence. I ask, then, will you come out? Come out 



118 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

boldly, and take your stand for God. You, backsliders ; you 
who are undecided, who stand in the way of the conversion of 
your father and mother; you, pew-holder; you, unconverted 
professors, — will you decide for Christ ? Decide now. I tell 
you, you are reaching a point on which your destiny turns ; the 
fearful crisis approaches that decides your fate. Yes, soon it 
will be with you conversion or damnation. I know some of you 
do not like this kind of preaching. I know I may be sinking in 
the estimation of many intelligent persons in this congregation. 
I have suffered more from this kind of prophetic preaching than 
from anything else ; but I have weighed well the consequences. 
I know what will win human applause, and I am willing to 
make the sacrifice. I am willing to be a fool, for Christ's sake. 
Ah, says one, you are doing this for effect ! Amen ! Amen ! 
Before earth, heaven, and hell, I proclaim, I am aiming at 
effect. 

Now, I tell you, when the Spirit has ceased to strive with 
you, you will present, on your dying bed, a horrible spectacle. 
Not long since, in a certain town, a man was dying, — a man who 
respected religion, who had sat in the house of God for years ; 
and, as his end approached, his mind was in a fearful state. 
One of the members connected with the chapel where he sat 
went to see him, and freely held out to him the promises, and 
told him salvation was free as the air. The dying man waved 
his hand and said, " Stop ! stop ! I could believe all you say, 
were I not offering the dregs of life to God" Death seized him, 
and the last words he was heard to utter were, "I could believe 
all you say, were I not offering the dregs of life to God." And 
you whom I now address, I tell you, you are sinners against 
God. I do not charge you with swearing, with sabbath-break- 
ing, with whoremongering, with adultery, but you are sinners. 
And what is your sin? I answer, it is mental rebellion; you 
refuse to yield to God's claims. Who is the greatest sinner in 
the universe ? Why, the devil. And what was the sin of the 
devil ? Mental rebellion. Some time ago, a number of minis- 
ters met together, for the purpose of holding revival meetings. 
One of those ministers had a son whose heart was unsubdued. 



THE STRIVING OF THE SPIRIT. 119 

He had been trained up at their family altar; he had listened, 
from time to time, to the word of God; had heard, from day to 
day, the pleadings of his father with Heaven for his conversion ; 
yet he still stood out. He had constantly before him the holy 
example of a devoted father and mother; and, in answer to their 
private intercessions for him, had been the subject of deep con- 
victions ; but he resisted the Spirit. He was seen one night at 
the revival meeting. One of the ministers entreated him to give 
his heart to God ; but, in sullen rebellion, he still resisted. When 
the meeting closed, and he returned home, his anxious mother 
got him alone, and urged him to yield to God (you know how 
mothers can plead). He gave that mother a look as fierce as 
lhat of a demon, and said, " Mother, I tell you, I would rather 
be damned than yield" No sooner had the words escaped his 
lips, than he stumbled, and fell at her feet. When she raised 
him up, he was a corpse ; his face was blanched in death. But 
I have not told you all ; the last words she heard him say were, 
" lam damned, lam damned /" Why such a tender mother's 
heart was permitted to be wrung with anguish so deep, God only 
knows. Now, what was the sin of that young man ? Why, 
mental rebellion. 

• God's Holy Spirit is striving now with you, backslider ; with 
you that are undecided ; with you, pew-holders ; with you, 
unconverted professors ; and you refuse to yield. What is the 
sin you are now deliberately committing ? Why, mental rebel- 
lion. Now, I ask you, will you seek the forgiveness of your 
sins ? I tell you, if you leave this chapel to-night unsaved, you 
are guilty of mental rebellion. The young man said, in words, 
" I would rather be damned than yield." You say, by conduct 
that speaks louder than words, " I would rather be damned than 
'yield." I leave the great Author of the universe, before whose 
tribunal you must stand, — the Judge of men, to decide which 
is the greatest sinner. " And the Lord said, My Spirit shall 
not always strive with man." 



SERMON IX. 

THE STING OF DEATH. 

Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection; 
not laying again the foundation of repentance from sin and dead works. — Heb. 6 : 1. 
The sting of death is sin. — 1 Cor. 15 : 56. 

A slight acquaintance with a man will convince us of the 
truth of two propositions. 

First. That every man is laboring to attain some object. 

Second. That according to the intensity of the interest he 
feels in the object, will be his delight in pursuing it. It is 
the deep interest he feels in the object that sweetens the toil, 
beguiles the time, and cheers him on. These two propositions 
lie at the foundation of all human effort, — they pervade the 
entire of our actions. 

A few illustrations of this poin 

Jacob engaged with Laban to serve him seven years for 
Rachel. The object before him was Rachel ; and though the 
sun scorched him by day, and the frost withered him by night, 
it is said, " Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed 
to him but a few days, for the love he had to her." The deep 
interest he felt in the object of his pursuit gave wings to time, 
and made years fly as days. Again, a man is deep in debt, and 
the object he has before him is, to " owe no man anything," — 
to be able to look every man boldly in the face. To accomplish 
this, what sacrifices will he not make, — what labor and toil will 
he not endure ? The deep interest he feels in the attainment of 
his object calls him to toil ere the sun has yet risen ; hurries 
him on through the whirl of business ; braces his spirit ; nerves 
his arm ; and sweetens all his labors. 

The merchant is looking onward to retirement from business, 
when, in the calm evening of life, he can sit down and enjoy his 



THE STING OF DEATH. 121 

neat little country seat; that is the object before him. The 
interest he feels in its attainment gives zest to his jaded spirit, 
and throws a charm over what w r ould otherwise be, from year to 
year, one dull scene of monotony. 

The same principle actuates the warrior on the battle-field. 
His object is military glory ; a name in the annals of fame ; the 
applause of the brave. To accomplish this, he will bid adieu to 
the loved scenes of home, the smiling babe, the heart-broken 
wife. He will brave the perils of the deep ; and, in the face of 
the gleaming spear, the murderous battle-shout, the shower of 
death, the roaring cannon's mouth, he will rush to victory or to 
death ; and all to obtain the laurels of earthly, perishing fame. 
And were I to say that every real Christian in this congregation 
was not laboring to attain an object, your experience would rise 
up and contradict me. You. have an object before you, — a 
happy dying hour — rest after the storms of life are past — rest 
now and rest hereafter — sweet rest in the calm of heaven — a 
crown, a brilliant crown, a crown of life, — "a crown of glory 
that fadeth not away," — heaven ! heaven ! 

"Where flesh and blood hath never been, 
Where mortal eye hath never seen ; 
A mental sphere — a flood of light ; 
A sea of glory, dazzling bright. 5 ' 

That is the object before you ; and, if you would secure it, you 
must get rid of the sting of death ; you must go onto perfection. 
We lay down, then, for our discussion, one proposition, — 
That, if a happy and triumphant death-bed be desirable, 
and if a gloomy and miserable death-bed is to be depre- 
cated, then go on to perfection. 

We do not mean to dwell upon the nature of Christian per- 
fection, but simply upon the results of perfection upon a dying 
hour. How solemn is life's last hour ! The journey is ended ; 
the immortal candidate is on life's last shore. The cold and. 
bitter flood lies between him and the better land ; and, from 
thence, he has to review all the road along which he has trav- 
elled. Memory retouches all the past ; and, in a few minutes, 
11 



122 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

he seems to live the whole of life over again. The scenes long 
forgotten now, in his dying hour, gather around him in vivid 
reality ; and to be able to look calmly on Death, with the dart 
gleaming in his uplifted hand, and not be afraid, is the very per- 
fection of religion. Poor humanity may, for a moment, shudder ; 
the cold shivering of mortality may come over it ; but the grace 
of God can enable the Christian to exclaim, " To die is gain." 
See that sun setting in the western sky; the blue arch is cloud- 
less ; everything seems hushed, serene, and quiet ; nature bath- 
ing in his parting beams. O, how sublime the scene ! Still 
more sublime is the sight of a Christian dying happy in God, — 
" Dying in brighter day to rise." There is one piece of poetry 
which beautifully describes the Christian's happy close : 

" Vital spark of heavenly flame, 
Quit, oh, quit this mortal frame ! 
Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying, — 
O, the pain, the bliss, of dying ! 
Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife, 
And let me languish into life." 

Here the soul seems to say to the body, " We have been com- 
panions long ; we have travelled together life's rough road ; but 
now home is in view. ' Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife ; * 
let me go." Here the soul is described as hovering on the very 
precincts of heaven ; and, seeming to hear the rustling of the 
wings of the ministering spirits, it cries, — 

' { Hark ! they whisper : angels say, 
Sister spirit, come away ! 
What is this absorbs me quite, 
Steals my senses, shuts my sight, 
Drowns my spirits, draws my breath, — 
Tell me, my soul, can this be death? 

,c The world recedes ; it disappears. 
Heaven opens on my eyes ; my ears 
With sounds seraphic ring ! " 

The spirit has now launched into eternity ; it has commenced 
its upward flight ; the earth, like a little dark spot, grows less 



THE STING OF DEATH. 123 

and less ; heaven opens upon the vision ; the new Jerusalem is 
now in sight ; the pearly gates, the jasper walls, the angelic 
watchmen, all flaming with the glory of God, are seen floating 
far away in the blue ether piled against the light. Now the 
heavenly music — music sweeter than any the earth can pro- 
duce — bursts upon the ear ; now she wants to speed her flight ; 
she exclaims, 

"Lend, lend your wings ; I mount, I fly ! 
O grave ! where is thy victory? 
O death ! where is thy sting?" 

Were I to repeat this over again, there is not a gentleman 
here, however refined in his taste, but would say, "Ah, that is 
beautiful poetry ; that will live as long as the English language 
shall last." " But," says one, " it is poetry, after all; — I like 
sober prose and sound doctrine." I have seen people die, but 
never like that ; I have seen the glazed eyes, the blanched 
cheek, the withered face ; I have heard the death-rattle gurgle 
in the throat, and have seen the sinking of the frame into the 
quiet of death, and something like a faint smile flitting over the 
countenance ; but never have I found anything like that described 
in the poetry just quoted. To show you that the matchless 
poetry above does not go beyond the truth that a holy Christian 
can die happy, I will refer you to one fact. When looking over 
my papers, I found an account written eight or nine years ago ; 
the source whence I obtained it gave me the fullest assurance 
of its truth. An infidel's son, many miles distant from his 
father's house, heard of the illness of his mother, and hastened 
home. The sun was just rising over his native hills, when he 
alighted in front of his father's mansion ; his sister flew towards 
him, pressed him to her heart, and led the way to the sick-room 
of his mother. The young infidel stepped forward to the bed ; 
she seemed dozing, but pale and emaciated. He almost con- 
cluded her dead, till a sweet smile played upon her countenance. 
Her lips moved ; he leaned over, and heard her say, " I come ! 
I come ! " opening her eyes gently. " O, I thought I was going." 
" Where, mother ? " he whispered. (She had not recognized 



124 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

him, but supposed it was his sister.) " Hark ! " she said, and he 

instinctivelv leaned forwards — 

" Hark! they whisper: angels say, 
Sister spirit, come away!" 

" I come to join your everlasting songs ! " Again he heard his 
mother's voice, nor could he resist the attractive sound, but was 
there in time to hear, — 

" Then shall I see, and hear, and know, 
All I desired and wished below." 

Overcome by his feelings, he left the room for a time. On 
returning, his mother, who had been made acquainted with his 
arrival, received him with a cheerful smile, and said, — " One 
thing more I desired of the Lord, and he hath given me the 
desire of my heart." 

The awful hour of dissolution had come ; and, after receiving 
the whole of her family around her bed, her last advice and 
parting blessing were then given, beginning with the youngest, 
and speaking to them one by one, till she came to the eldest — 
the infidel. Tears, which he tried in vain to repress, gushed 
from his eyes, as he thought to himself, — "My mother thinks 
mine a hopeless case, and desires to leave me to pursue my 
chosen path to ruin." Again he endeavored to choke his emo- 
tions ; but tears and the inward monitor suggested, 

"Dost thou feel these arguments, Lorenzo ?" 

He arose to leave the room ; but the eye, the heart, the undying 
love, of an expiring mother followed him ; she called him back, 
and bade him be seated by her side, making some allusion to his 
infidelity. She took him by the hand, and said, " My son, I 
know you are an infidel ; I know you reject the Bible as a reve- 
lation from God ; I have watched with painful interest the pro- 
gress of scepticism in your mind ; I feel for you all that a mother 
in my circumstances can feel. The icy chill of death is now 
creeping over my frame ; this is the last effort of my maternal 



THE STING OF DEATH. 125 

love. Time is fast receding, — eternity opening to my view. 
What I do must be done quickly ; the grave is ready for me ; my 
house is set in order; all my work is done on earth, except a 
few parting words to my first-born. Let me ask you one ques- 
tion, which I wish you to answer to God and your own con- 
science, — Do you wish your mother to die a believer in the 
dark creed of Voltaire or Paine ? If so, step forward with me to 
the tomb, which, in the light of infidelity, is as dark as darkness 
itself; death, an eternal sleep, the utter extinction of being; 
this thinking, reasoning mind, capable of so much expansion and 
enjoyment, must go out like an expiring taper — cease to exist ! 
There is nothing in heaven or earth can give a ray of light to an 
expiring infidel ! " It was now the Holy Ghost and conscience 
applied the sentiment with power. 

11 Dost thou feel these arguments, Lorenzo? 
Or is there naught but vengeance can be felt ? " 

"But," she continued, "while life recedes, my hopes — my 
hopes — my confidence in God strengthen. Peace, like a river, 
pours its balmy influence over me ; eternity and immortal life 
open on my delighted vision ; unutterable thoughts of God and 
heaven fill my already expanded capacities. I feel the assurance 
that God is my Father, Christ my Saviour, and the Holy Ghost 
my Comforter. I shall soon have an unclouded vision of the 
glory of God's palaces. All that is now dark, or deep, or high, to 
my present limited capacities, will be then unfolded and under- 
stood ; nature, providence and grace, will be themes for eternal 
research ; the perfections and attributes of God an endless intel- 
lectual feast ; redemption an eternal song. The resurrection has 
rolled away the stone from the sepulchre and illumined the dark 
enclosure, — has swallowed up death m victory. My Saviour, 
Jesus, the friend of sinners, is present, — is sweet — is s-w-e-e-t. 

* * * 0,my son ! " She would have proceeded, but 

gasped for breath, and reclined upon the pillow. He called the 
family, but the precious mother had departed ; a smile of hope, 
peace and joy, rested upon her features. His father sank down 
11* 



126 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

upon the chair; and the pious sister, with a face beaming with 
religious emotion, gently closed her eyes, and all was still. The 
young man stood awe-struck. He saw how the religion of the 
Bible could support in a dying hour. He felt himself a lost sin- 
ner, but discovered the Saviour of sinners revealed in the long- 
neglected Bible ; he was an infidel no longer. Such is the end 
of a holy Christian. Still, it must be confessed that multitudes 
within the pale of the churches of Protestantism, — yea, and even 
within the pale of the Methodist churches, — do not die like this 
— do not honor either God or religion much in their deaths. It 
is no good to conceal the fact ; there are a great many painful, 
gloomy death-bed scenes, — a great number of persons whose sun 
sets under a cloud. A great many professors of religion are so 
immersed in business, that, when suddenly called to die, instead 
of passing full sail into the heavenly port, they hold on to life 
like a poor wrecked mariner to the rock on which he is cast, till 
the last wave comes and washes him off into the ocean. 

The facts of the death-beds of many professors are too painful 
to bring to light ; they are concealed, — they are hushed up. You 
must go to a second hand for the account of their "death; their 
friends draw a veil over their closing hours. I wonder not at 
their painful death ; they could not bear in life the searching 
truths of God's word; and, if men cannot bear searching truth 
a strict examination, the scrutiny of conscience in the hour oi 
affliction, how can they do in the swellings of Jordan ? 

" O, could we make our doubts remove 
Those gloomy thoughts that rise, 
And see the Canaan that we love, 
With unbeclouded eyes ! 
But tim'rous mortals start and shrink 
To cross this narrow sea ; 
And linger, shivering on the brink, 
And fear to launch away." 

The same poet, in another place, says, 

" O, what are all my sufferings here, 
If, Lord, thou count'st me meet ? " 

Ah ! it is the want of meetness, the gloomy doubts, the dread 



THE STING OF DEATH. 127 

uncertainty, that makes life's last hour so unhappy. There she 
lies, lingering, shivering at the port, afraid to launch away. 
There she lies, enduring the sting of death. The heart is not 
purified, sin is not all gone, and sin arms death with power. 
Never, till you are holy, will you be able to look upon death 
and not be afraid. Brethren, heaven is a sanctuary of purity ; 
a sanctuary guarded with all the jealousies of the Godhead; 
and, were you to dare to approach it without purity, fire would 
break forth from the throne, and, with holy indignation, repel 
your approach. To a soul not purified from all sin, death is 
armed with a sting ; and, oh ! how it will harass, and goad, and 
sting the soul, in the hour of death ! I was once called to visit 
one of my congregation when she was dying. As I entered 
the room, she fastened her eyes upon me, and gave me such a 
look as I shall never forget. She cried out, " O ! Mr. Caughey, 
the sting of death ! death has a sting ! " Yes, it has a sting 
that tortures the soul in that awful hour. Ah, that was a 
striking comment on this text. And what is it that gives a 
sting to death ? Is it not recollections of misimproved oppor- 
tunities, abused mercies, indulged temptation, unfruitfulness, 
unfaithfulness in the work of God ? Ah, the Christian looks 
back upon the Sodom he has left, and onward to the bleak, 
untravelled eternity before him. Death is life's last shore ; and, 
as he lingers there, his mind retraces the journey he has trav- 
elled, and all that seemed faded and indistinct is retouched by 
conscience; those things that appeared, amidst the bustle of 
life, but trifling, now seem awfully magnified; they are now 
viewed in the light of eternity. Ah ! it is the holiness of the 
law by which they are to be judged, the purity of the God with 
whom they have to do, that exhibits those imperfections in their 
true colors. Ah ! it is conscience retouching the past, making 
all the little failings of life gather around the bed of death. It 
is the immediate prospect of going, with all these failings, to 
meet a heart-searching God. It is a sight of these things that 
makes death-bed purgatories, — death-bed hells ! 

How are we to account for these gloomy death-bed scenes 
among professors of religion ? I answer, — 



128 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

First, a want of regeneration : — many of them hare never 
been born again. 

Secondly, backsliding. " I was converted," says one ; " 1 
could tell the time and place of my conversion." Ah ! but 
you are a backslider now. Satan was once an angel of light, 
and raised the high hallelujahs of heaven, but he is now a 
devil. What comfort will it give you, in a dying hour, to 
remember you were once a Christian, but that you have cruci- 
fied your Lord afresh, and put him to an open shame ? This is 
another reason for these gloomy death-beds. 

Thirdly, remaining depravity. I don't wish to throw one 
doubt on your minds in reference to your friends who have 
gone to their graves. One says, "I have a husband gone; 1 ' 
and another, "la wife," and "la sister," " a brother," " a dear 
friend ;" " they sought and found pardon, but we do not know- 
that they ever professed to find Christian perfection; and are 
they lost?" I answer, No, no; I would not lead you, for a 
moment, to doubt their final safety : but, ah ! you do not know 
what they suffered in the first week of their affliction. You 
thought it was bodily pain that gave them that piercing, shud- 
dering look, and wore them to a skeleton ; but it was not that ; 
it was sin stinging them. They did not tell you what it was 
that gave them such deep anguish, and no mortal can tell what 
they endured in that week's affliction. If you wish a calm 
hour in the last struggle, your conscience must be as clear as a 
diamond; it will then be like a mirror, — it will reflect all the 
past. When passing by a house the other day, I saw a mirror 
placed outside of the window; another was also placed inside. 
What, thought I, can they want with these mirrors ? The fact 
was, the person sitting at the window, by looking at the one 
inside, could see all that was passing on the outside. Ah ! con- 
science will be a mirror; it will reflect the past; it will retouch 
life, and bring it again into distinct view. In the dying hour, 
conscience will look back; it will force every Christian to 
review life. And what a scene does it present ! Where is the 
man that can lay his hand upon his heart, and say, I have kept 
inbred sin under during the whole of my Christian life ? Can 



THE STING OF DEATH. 129 

you say, I have never been envious at the prosperity of another, 
— never indulged in pride on the ground of your wealth, stand- 
ing, talents, — never felt the love of the world, impure thoughts, 
unholy desires ? Can you say, I have been free from the slight- 
est touch of sin since I believed ? I don't think one of you 
can say so ! The remains of sin in the heart are like powder; 
and only let a spark fall into it, and there will be an explosion. 
There has been powder enough in our hearts, and this world is 
full of sparks. 

One is saying, " I contracted an unsuitable marriage ; I was 
unequally yoked, and all has been wrong ever since." Another 
is saying, " I formed an improper connection in business." " I," 
says another, " fell — gave way to bad tempers, angry passions, 
and, oh ! there are a thousand witnesses in my own breast." 
Conscience bears witness loud, distinct, and clear; but God has 
brought the wanderer back — back to the throne of grace, and 
your language is, 

{; Though I have most unfaithful been 
Of all who e'er thy grace received, — 
Ten thousand times thy goodness seen, 
Ten thousand times thy goodness grieved, — 
Yet, oh, the chief of sinners spare, 
In honor of my great High Priest ! 
Nor in thy righteous anger swear 
To exclude me from thy people's rest." 

You feel how true these words are, — how unfaithful you have 
been. If you harbor and indulge these enemies of God in your 
heart, what kind of a death will you have ? Ah ! w T e know ! 
We have seen your brethren die; we know the whole race of 
you ; we tell you, there is before you a stormy Jordan. What, 
then, is to be done? The past cannot be altered. "What," 
say you, "are you aiming at?" I answer, I want you to be 
aroused, to be restored, to get this standing doubt removed, to 
be washed again in the blood of the Lamb, to get this sting of 
death taken away, to go on to perfection. Only get this sting 
removed, and your nature purified, and then you will have a 
happy death-bed. Bless God, you may start for glory, and 



130 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

never strike a rock ! See ! see ! that vessel leaving the port ot 
Liverpool. She passes the Pier-head ; she jostles her way 
through the crowd of shipping that obstructs her passage ; she 
clears every dangerous point ; she escapes the sand-banks that 
lie concealed under the waters ; she gets fairly out on the ocean; 
by and by she gets an overhaul, and all 's right. Every inch of 
canvas is now crowded on, and on she bounds before the breeze. 
At length the shout, "Land ahead," is heard; she heaves in 
sight of port ; she reaches it. As the captain steps ashore, his 
friends hail him with sparkling eyes, " Well, captain, what sort 
of a voyage ?" " O, capital ; 't is true, we have had a few tre- 
mendous gales ; but we have never split a sail, snapped a rope, 
or lost a spar ; and here we are, safe in harbor ! " " Well, cap- 
tain, we congratulate you on your voyage." 

Glory to God ! you may yet get safe out of harbor, clear 
every rock, and pass, full sail, into the port of glory, amidst the 
congratulations of the heavenly host. " My grace is sufficient 
for you;" but this sting of death has remained, and, conse- 
quently, your experience has been a checkered scene, sometimes 
up, sometimes down. Now, I want to take you out of this 
uncertain state ; I want you to get this standing doubt removed. 
If you want a triumphant and happy dying hour, then you must 
go on to perfection. I will not stop to explain the nature of 
Christian perfection, only to ask a question or two. Are you a 
Protestant ? Well, then, stick to your Bible. I tell you, there 
are too many creeds floating abroad already; I'll stick fast to 
my Bible ; God's book is truth. Well, John says, speaking of 
God, "And in him is no sin." Do you believe that? "Yes," 
says one, "it would be blasphemy to believe the opposite of 
that." Well, he says again, in 1 John 3:9," Whosoever is born 
of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him, and 
he cannot sin because he is born of God." Do you believe that ? 
"Perfect love casteth out all fear;" but, ah! you have not 
enjoyed that. Your experience has been a checkered scene. I 
appeal to your secret experience, has it not been of such a char- 
acter ? Good old Bunyan describes purity of heart under the 
figure of the "Land of Beulah." He was a Calvinist, and 



THE STING OF DEATH. 131 

thought it was only in death the soul could be cleansed from 
sin; but Beulah, however, was this side of the river. When 
describing Christian and Hopeful as entering the land of Beu- 
lah, he says, " In this land the sun shone night and day ; they 
were got quite over the enchanted ground, and Doubting Castle 
was clean out of sight ; the very air was sweet and pleasant, 
and they heard continually the singing of birds. Here they 
were in full sight of the city to which they were going, and the 
view became more and more distinct and clear. It was built 
of pearls and precious stones, and the streets thereof were pure 
gold. As they drew nearer and nearer, there were orchards, 
and vineyards, and gardens, and their gates opened into the 
highway. And now the sun shining full upon the city, it 
became so extremely glorious, that they could not yet with open 
face behold it, for the city was pure gold. As they travelled on, 
they met two men in raiment that shone like gold. These men 
asked the pilgrims whence they came, and what difficulties, 
dangers, comforts, and pleasures, they had met with on the way. 
The men also said to Christian and Hopeful, 'You have but 
two difficulties more, and you are in the city.' Now I further 
saw, that between them and the city there was a river, and 
there was no bridge to go over, and the river was very deep. 
At the sight of the river the pilgrims were much stunned, but 
the men said, ' You must go through, or you cannot get at the 
gate.' They then inquired if there was no other way to the 
gate. ' Yes,' said the men, ' there is a bridge, but only two, 
since the days of Adam, have been allowed to pass over it, nor 
shall any more till the last trumpet sounds.' Christian began 
to despond, and looked this way, and that w T ay, but no way 
appeared but through the water. Christian plunged in, and 
went over head, and began to cry to Hopeful, and say, ' I sink 
in deep waters ; thy billows go over my head ; all thy waves 
go over me.' Then said Hopeful, ' Be of good cheer, my 
brother; I feel the bottom, and it is good.' Then said Christian, 
1 Ah, my friend, the sorrows of death compass me about, and I 
shall not see the good land ; and with that a great horror of 
darkness fell upon him, so that he could not see before him. 



132 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

Hopeful had much trouble to keep his brother's head above the 
waters ; yea, sometimes he would be quite gone down ; and 
then, ere a while, he would rise up again half dead. Hopeful 
said, ' Brother, I see the gate, and men standing by to receive 
us ;' but Christian would answer, ' It is you, it is you they wait 
for. Ah, brother, for my sins he hath brought me into a snare, 
and hath left me.' Hopeful said, ' Be of good cheer, — Jesus 
Christ maketh thee whole ;' and with that Christian brake out 
with a loud voice, ' 0, I see him again, and he tells me, when 
thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee.' They 
took courage and waded through ; and as they landed on the 
other shore, the two shining ones awaited them, and conducted 
them off to the New Jerusalem." 

If you would have a happy death, go on to perfection. A 
holy Christian will have a happy death; this is the rule; I 
know there are exceptions to every rule, and there are excep- 
tions to this. You will remember the closing scenes of John 
Smith and Walsh; their dying hours were of a most distressing 
character ; but I believe it was not for any sin that remained in 
them, for they had been sanctified for years; they had done 
the devil a great deal of harm, and no wonder that he should 
make a deadly onset upon them in the last solemn conflict. 
These instances, however, are the exceptions ; the other is the 
rule; — a holy life is followed by a happy death. If, in your 
course of Christian duty, you " roll round with the year, and 
never stand still till the Master appear," at the even tide it will 
he light. If you want to lay quarantine outside the port of 
glory, like the fever ships, then live without holiness. I know 
God keeps some holy souls lying quarantine outside the port ; 
not, however, because there is any sin in them, but to show 
them to earth, heaven, and hell. God shows them to the uni- 
verse as a proof of the power of the blood of the cross. See ! 
see ! those two vessels just heaving in sight of the port. " Land 
ahead ! " shouts the man at the look-out ; they draw nearer and 
nearer shore. See ! see ! those two little boats rushing over 
the rippling waves ; they are the health-boats ; now they haul 
alongside, — there, they are drawn upon the deck of the vessel. 



THE STING OF DEATH. 133 

"Well, captain, from what port?" "From the port of Justifi- 
cation. We got, however, our papers signed at the port of Ho- 
liness," responds the captain. "Any sick on board?" "No, 
sir ; no, sir, — all well and sound ! " Ah ! you who have been to 
sea, after a long voyage ; you know what it is to lay quarantine 
forty days. " Well, captain," say the health officers, " they are 
all in excellent trim — clean as a pin ; go in, go in — do as you 
please — the whole country is before you." The other vessel 
looms in sight; the officers go on board. "What port from, 
captain ? 'V " The port of Justification." " Any sick aboard ? " 
" Why, a few of the passengers are not very well." The offi- 
cers pass through the vessel, to see the state of things. Here, 
they find one stowed away in his hammock, with the fever burn- 
ing through his veins, as though it would devour him ; another 
yonder, sitting up in his berth, pale, wan, and emaciated ; — 
in fact, sickness pervades the whole ship. " Well," says the 
captain to the officers, " we have had a long voyage and bad 
weather ; we should be glad to go in." " Nay, nay," say the 
officers, " we cannot allow that — we cannot go beyond our 
commission." The captain says, " Well, you do not mean to 
turn us back, I hope? " " Turn you back ! no, no — we '11 nei- 
ther turn you back, nor sink you. We never reject a vessel 
from your port ; and, moreover, you shall have the best pro- 
vision the land will afford ; but here you must lay quarantine 
forty days. There 's the beautiful country open to your view, 
and when your sickness is gone, you shall enter it. Down with 
your sails, and cast anchor." There she rides on the tossing 
waves, while the crew often go and view from the deck the good 
land. Ah! God has to keep many poor sin-sick souls outside 
the ports of glory, lying quarantine forty days, like the fever 
ships. There they are, tossing on the billows of the Jordan ; 
and, as they view the land through the mist and rage of the 
foaming waters, how plaintively they can sing, 

" On Jordan's stormy banks I stand, 
And cast a wishful eye 
To Canaan's fair and happy land, 
Where my possessions lie. 
12 



134 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

" O, the transporting, rapturous scene 
That rises to my sight ! 
Sweet fields, arrayed in living green, 
And rivers of delight. 

" No chilling winds, no poisonous breath, 
Can reach that healthy shore ; 
Sickness and sorrow, pain and death, 
Are felt and feared no more. 

({ When shall I reach that happy place, 
And be forever blest ? 
When shall I see my Father's face, 
And in his bosom rest? " 

They will enter at last. And, oh ! how interesting it is to see 
a ship, after a long voyage, sail into port ! See ! see that crowd 
on the pier. A vessel is expected. " A sail ! a sail ! " shouts 
one. Every eye is now peering through the dim haze. There 
she is, like a speck, far off on the ocean. She comes nearer and 
nearer — she grows more and more distinct. Many hearts are 
now beating high with intense anxiety. See that aged woman 
in the crowd ; she presses now nearer to the pier edge ; Jier eye ' 
wanders not. How fixed that look ! — how intense that gaze ! 
Her whole soul is in her countenance. The little speck grows 
larger and larger to her view. " Yes," says she, " 'tis the ves- 
sel. There — the sailors are now pacing the deck. I see him. 
'T is he — 't is he — 't is my son. I had given him up for lost ; 
but here he comes — he comes once more ! Blessed be thou, oh 
God of Israel, who doeth all things well." Now, as the sight 
of home opens upon the view of the sailors, their hearts swell 
with joy. " Home ! home ! sweet home ! " shout the crew. 
" Welcome ! welcome ! tempest-tossed mariners, again to our 
shores ! " respond the crowd. On a spring tide, before a fine 
breeze, amidst smiles, tears, and loud acclamations of joy, they 
pass full sail into the harbor. Faintly, indeed, does this shadow 
forth the scene witnessed when *a soul is entering heaven — 
when it passes full sail into the port of glory. 

" Christian, behold! the land is nearlng, 
Where the wild sea storm's rage is o'er ; 
Hark ! how the heavenly hosts are cheering ; 
See in what throngs they range the shore. 



THE STING OF DEATH. 135 

" Cheer up ! cheer up ! the day breaks o'er, thee, 
Bright as the summer's noon-tide ray ; 
The star-gemmed crowns, and realms of glory, 
Invite thy happy soul away. 

tl Away ! away ! leave all for glory ; 
Thy name is graven on the throne, — 
Thy home is in those realms of glory 
Where thy Redeemer now is gone." 

Go on to perfection ; and may you all at last be enabled to 
shout, " Victory, victory, in the blood of the Lamb ! " 



SERMON X. 

A CALL TO DECISION. 

How long halt ye between two opinions 1 — 1 Kings 18 : 21. 

If there be a God who is almighty, and therefore is able to 
save or destroy ; who, by one volition of his will, can raise you 
up to heaven, or sink you down to the depths of hell ; who is 
infinite in wisdom, and therefore intimately acquainted with your 
whole history ; whose eye has marked every movement in your 
eventful course ; whose angel reporter has recorded in the reg- 
ister-book of heaven every moral action of your life ; who is a 
God of justice, and will, therefore, one day call you up to the 
great universal tribunal, and award to you according as your 
works have been ; who is full of mercy, and therefore will cast 
out none that come to him ; whose favor is life, whose smile is 
heaven, whose frown is hell; — if there be such a God, and if 
the giving your heart fully to him would secure to you honor, 
immortality, eternal life, and a position of equality with the 
angels, why halt between two opinions ? 

If there be a hell, — a place where no good will ever come ; 
where all evil will be concentrated ; where the fire will burn, the 
darkness affright, the chains bind, the deathless worm rankle; 
where, overhead and all around, wind will war with wind, light- 
ning flash to lightning, storm howl to storm, and thunder mutter 
to thunder, in sounds of sullen wrath ; where " fiery waves will 
dash against the rocks of dark damnation, and music make of 
melancholy sort ; " where the unhappy wretches will curse 
themselves, curse each other, curse the earth, curse the resurrec- 
tion morn, curse Almighty God, and seek for death, and find it 
not ; where their enemy is an aroused and angry God, the 
instruments of their torture a lake of fire and a guilty con 



A CALL TO DECISION. 137 

science, their tormentors the devil and his angels, and ETER- 
NITY stamped upon the whole ; — if there be such a world before 
you, and if your course leads directly to it, why halt between 
two opinions, whether you will escape it or not? If there be a 
heaven — 

" a land of pure delight, 



Where saints immortal reign ; 
Infinite day excludes the night, 
And pleasures banish pain ; 

" Where everlasting spring abides. 
And never-withering flowers ; 
Death, like a narrow sea, divides 
That heavenly laud from ours ;" 

A heaven where you will wear the robe, wave the palm, occupy 
the mansion, sit upon the throne, join in the everlasting song; 
where no wish will be left unsatisfied, and where hope will have 
realized her brightest visions ; — if there be such a heaven offered, 
why halt between two opinions, as to whether you will accept it 
or not? But if there be none, — no GOD, no HEAVEN, no 
HELL; if you can disprove their existence; if you can affirm 
that you have travelled through the vast circuit of the universe, 
that you could find no print of the footsteps of the Deity; that 
you heard no sound of his voice; that everything came by 
chance ; or that some creature first made himself, and every 
world that rolls in space, with all the myriads of men and angels 
that people earth and heaven ; that there is no heaven or hell ; 
that you have searched every planet, every nook and corner in 
space ; that you have wandered through the universal temple, 
and that there is no trace of a world of bliss or woe ; — further : 
if you are prepared to prove the Bible to be a lie ; that all the evi- 
dence from prophecy, from the long chain of miracles, from the 
harmony of the Scriptures, from the millions of dying-bed testi- 
monies, from the united voice of the great army of martyrs, who 
hailed dungeons, prisons, racks, stakes, wild beasts, and the loss 
of life, rather than give up or deny the precious Bible, with all 
the grand effects the Bible has produced in the world ; — if you 
are prepared to prove that all these sources of evidence are 
12* 



138 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

mere delusions, mere priestcraft, still we ask, on this supposition, 
why halt between two opinions ? If these things be so, then 
reject Christianity ; spurn religion ; convert your chapels into 
warehouses, and send your ministers home to some other call- 
ing ; erect a monument to the triumph of infidelity ; stand upon 
the tomb of Christianity, and shout, Hail, thou profoundest hell! 
and revel in the thought that there is no heaven to close against 
you, no hell to burn you, no God to condemn you ; — but, if there 
be a God, and Christianity be true, then, we ask, how long halt 
ye between two opinions ? Notwithstanding all the efforts infi- 
dels make to bolster themselves up in their creed, the truth of 
Gcd will get into their minds; and when once the truth of God 
has got into the soul of man, it can never be got out again. 
There are just two things we wish to say about infidel no- 
tions. 

First, they can gain nothing by them. If Christianity be 
false, you gain nothing; you then have the consolation of 
taking a leap in the dark, — to launch forth on the boundless 
eternity, not knowing whether an angel or a devil will meet you 
at your entrance. 

Secondly, you are in danger of losing everything. Should 
Christianity prove true, you are lost forever ! How long, then, 
halt ye between two opinions ? 

1. What are we to understand by halting between two 
opinions ? 

Literally, how long hop ye about on two boughs ? This is 
a metaphor taken from birds hopping about from bough to 
bough, not knowing on which to settle — balanced between 
opposing claims. To halt is to stop — to hesitate between oppo- 
site interests. Paul was balanced between a life of usefulness 
on earth, and a life of enjoyment in heaven. The people, in 
the days of Elijah, were balanced between the worship of an 
idol and the worship of the God of heaven. Multitudes in our 
day are balanced between heaven and hell ; two contrary influ- 
ences acting upon them, as though God, and heaven, and holy 



A CALL TO DECISION. 139 

beings, were pulling one way, and the fiends of darkness and 
hell pulling the other. They halt between the two claims. 

At an early period I made choice of religion, and cast my lot 
in among the Methodists ; and I have not been hopping about 
from one opinion to another since. I considered well the mat- 
ter, and fixed my choice ; and I praise God for settled religious 
opinions and principles. I look upon it to be very important to 
have my mind fixed. Let me be a wanderer over this planet, 
— let me sail over the ocean, or range through every clime, — 
but let me have settled religious principles. My heart is fixed, 
oh God ! my heart is fixed. But there are thousands just in the 
state of the people described in the text. Let us ascend Mount 
Carmel, for a moment, and witness the great controversy. See 
that dense crowd upon the mount ! The claims of idolatry, the 
old religion of the country, are set forth by the priest ; the 
claims of God, who had brought them out of Egypt, — who 
had wrought wonders in their behalf: and the people halt be- 
tween the two claims. See ! there rushes in among them the 
venerable old prophet, and says, " How long halt ye between 
two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him; if Baal, then 
follow him. And the people answered him not a word. Elijah 
proposes a method to determine this great controversy. He pro- 
poses that two altars shall be built, and the sacrifices laid on the 
altars. Listen to Elijah's proposals to the prophets of Baal. 
"Call you upon the name of your gods, and I will call upon 
the name of the Lord ; and the god that answers by fire, let 
him be God." The priests set to work ; the altar is erected, and 
the sacrifice laid on. There are the whole crowd of the priests 
of Baal standing around the altar, and Elijah stands alone for 
the living God. Hark! how loud the priests are calling upon 
their god, — " O, Baal, hear us!" See how frantically they 
leap upon the altar, — how they cut themselves, supposing this 
will propitiate their god ! The very blood gushes out upon 
them ; but no god answers, no voice replies, nor any one regards 
them. Listen to the sarcasm of Elijah : — "Cry aloud, for he 
is a god ; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or peradventure 
he sleepeth, and must be awakened." Hark ! their shouts rend 



140 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

the very air. Now see Elijah standing beside the altar. The 
sacrifice is prepared; the water poured on, to prevent delusion. 
See with what dignity he acts, — what majesty about his whole 
bearing. Listen to his addresses to God : "Lord God of Abra- 
ham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that thou art 
God in Israel, and that I am thy servant. Hear me, oh Lord ! 
hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God." 
See !, there the fire of the Lord falls and consumes the sacrifice 

— the wood, the stones, the dust, and the very water in the 
trench. All the people see it, and fall upon their faces and cry, 
" The Lord he is God, the Lord he is God ! " ' The great con- 
troversy is ended, and the people decide for God. 

Again and again has all the convincing evidence of religion 
been brought before your mind, and you have been almost per- 
suaded to be a Christian ; but you have halted. Your under- 
standing and conscience have been on the side of heaven, but 
your will and affections have been on the side of the world and 
sin. In the chapel you have been serious and given promise 
of amendment, but among the world you laugh as loud as any. 
You have trimmed between the two ; you have tried to serve 
both God and Mammon; and, when convinced of the impossi- 
bility of that, you halt. 

You have sometimes entered the house of God, and while the 
ministers have reasoned of a judgment to come, you have trembled, 

— and you have seen, after all, that religion is the best thing. 
When the minister led you around the edge of the pit of fire, 
and you listened to the wail of the damned, and then led you 
up around the mount of glory to hear the song of the blessed, — 
especially as you were made to stand on the hill of Calvary, and 
to view the agonies of the dying Saviour, and as you thought 
"that is for me," — you almost fell down before the cross, and 
yielded your heart to God ; but the world had its spell around 
you, and you halted. 

"Ah!" says another, "you have not described my case. I 
have attended the house of God, it is true, but I never felt much 
under the word. It seems as though the infernal fiends had 
ranged themselves around me in the house of God, and sue- 



A CALL TO DECISION. 141 

ceeded in picking out of my heart every seed of the kingdom ; 
but I felt — deeply felt. I could take you to yonder room, where 
my dear mother breathed her last. While I listened to her 
dying charge, ah ! what were my feelings, my vows, my res- 
olutions ? Her language, her looks, her all, were so heavenly. 
Her last words were, ' Will you meet me in heaven? ' I sobbed 
out, ' I will try.' But my companions, the card-table, the the- 
atre, rose up again to my view, and I halted between the two 
opinions." 

But there is another here, who never felt much under the word, 
and who has never had the warning of a dying mother. Still, 
you have had feelings of deep anxiety. " Yes," say you, "there 
is one passage in my life, — one page in my history, — that I 
shall never forget. I will take you back in thought to the spot. 
It was in a room where I had spent most of the nights of my 
life in the bosom of my family. Everything was neat and 
clean around me — every earthly comfort given to me. My sis- 
ters and mother watched over me with a tenderness, a kindness, 
I shall never forget. How quiet were even their footsteps, lest 
they should pain me ! How did they soften my pillow, and wipe 
the cold, clammy sweats, as they gathered on my marble fore- 
head ! The fever raged through my veins ; the world, and all 
the gay scenes I had formerly followed, now seemed utter van- 
ity; and there stood out distinctly and near at hand, just ready 
to gleam out upon me, all the burning realities of eternity, in 
all their majesty and solemn grandeur. I prayed — I wept — 
I resolved to turn to God. I sent for Christians to talk and 
pray with me. Prayer — earnest prayer — was offered up for 
me. My life was given back; I returned to health; but my 
impressions were like marks on the sand — the next wave of 
ungodliness washed them all away. Now, there were before me 
two great distinct objects. On the one side, religion — heaven 

— eternal life ; on the other, the ball — the dance — the wine 

— the giddy circles of fashion — the path of worldly fame ; 
and I halted between the two opinions." 

"Ah!" says another, "you have described the characters of 
others, but you have not described mine. 0, sir, I too had no 



142 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

dying mother's warning, and I never had been much afflicted ; 
but there is one scene I witnessed in my life which has ever 
since haunted me like a horrid nightmare. It was the death- 
bed scene of an unsaved sinner. Ah ! the scene is too horrible 
to call to mind. There he lay tossing in agony. The summer's 
sun had gilded every season of his life ; but now the rigor of win- 
ter was upon him. He was on life's last shore — on the very 
edge of the unseen world. His frame was bathed in the sweats 
of death ; his eyeballs rolled with wild affright ; despair seemed 
indented in his very cheeks; his cries for mercy were enough to 
pierce a demon's heart. He looked for a moment onward with a 
fixed gaze; he seemed to see the shroud, the winding-sheet, the 
coffin, the yawning noisome grave, the tormentors waiting to 
receive him ; the closed gates of the celestial city, the flaming 
judgment, the open books, the great big fires of hell flaring up in 
the distance ; — he shrunk back, and said, ' I cannot face it — I 
dare not die.' Still, life ebbed out, and the space between him 
and eternity lessened every moment. For a time, reason reeled 
under the prospects, and oh, what were the horrid ravings of his 
mind! 

" On life's dread verge there he lay. At length the fatal mo- 
ment came ; — with a groan, a shuddering groan, he passed 
away to meet his God ; but his piercing cries for mercy, the 
language he uttered about fiends of hell gathering around his 
bed, and the sights he saw in the distance, the fierce glance of 
his eye, the despair depicted in his countenance, all seems dis- 
tinctly to linger in my mind. His awful death was hushed up 
as much as possible. I attended his funeral; but, ah! what 
were my thoughts as the dirt rumbled upon his coffin, as the 
grave was closing in upon his body, and the melancholy toll of 
the bell was dying away upon my ear ? I thought, perhaps the 
fiery waves of hell are closing over his spirit, and the devils 
singing the dirge over the funeral of his lost soul. As I wit- 
nessed that scene, what did I then promise — how did I then 
pray ! But I mingled with my old associates, and was laughed at 
for my seriousness. I saw, then, that I must be one thing or 



A CALL TO DECISION. 143 

the other, — that I must give up my companions, or give up all 
thoughts of religion, — and I halted between the two opinions." 

And here you are halting still ! How long halt ye ? The 
interests of your undying spirit cry, Decide^; fleeting time calls 
upon you to decide ; the tragic scenes of Calvary, as it rocks the 
slumbering universe, cry, Decide ; a voice comes down from the 
upper sanctuary, and says, Decide ; the muffled groans of mil- 
lions of damned souls cry to you, Decide. You may refuse ; 
you may for a while stifle conscience, and charm it to sleep ; 
but, by and by, " like a serpent which has coiled itself around 
your heart, it will start up and twine itself around your shriek- 
ing soul, and there hiss, and sting, and madden you throughout 
eternity ; and when, writhing in excruciating torture, from the 
unceasing gna wings of this undying worm, you cry out, in intol- 
erable anguish, oh ! shall I never have rest from this insupport- 
able weight of woe ? conscience, lifting up the awful voice you 
had so long silenced, will cry out, Never ! and memory, glancing 
back at all your guilt, will echo the dismal sound, Never ; and 
a voice more terrible still will break through the dreadful dark- 
ness that is all around, — the voice of an angry God, — exclaim- 
ing, NEVER— NEVER 



i » 



II. What are the causes of this halting ? 

1. The influence of the Spirit of God on the mind. This may 
seem strange, but we think it will be evident to you. The 
Spirit of God is not directly, but indirectly, the cause. He pro- 
duces such effects on the head and heart, by the doctrines of the 
Bible, that the sinner is made to see his position, to see the 
awful future, to see the consequences of moving on in that direc- 
tion, to see hell at the end of the path. He halts, stops to ponder 
whether to go backward or forward. I once heard a backslider, 
who had deeply fallen, say, " I have a father and a sister in 
heaven ; and my father's advice, and my sister's death-bed, I 
shall never forget. Also, the truth of God often flashes across 
my mind, and I think if I pursue the course I am now in, my 
death will be a frightful one. If I am not left then in a state of 
delirium or deep delusion, my end will present a horrible scene." 



144 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

That was the confession of a backslider, who was trying to 
shield himself under the principles of infidelity ; and that is but 
a fair specimen of the experience of thousands of sinners who 
are thronging the path of hell. We look upon the arousings of 
conscience in this man as the Spirit's work, stopping the sinner 
for a moment, at least, — making him halt on his path to per- 
dition. 

Man is a free agent. " What is that? " says one. I answer, 
he has a power to choose or reject. There is a consciousness 
within you that you possess this power, and all the reasoning in 
the world cannot make a thing more clear to you than conscious- 
ness. You know that without holiness no man can see God. 
You know that Jesus hath died for you, and that by his . death 
he hath removed every obstruction out of the way of your con- 
version. You know there is now a mercy-seat to which you can 
go and find pardon. You know you must go there, or perish. 
The blessed Spirit has been pouring light into your understand- 
ing, refreshing your memory, touching your conscience, gently 
bending your will. He has been trying thus to lead you over 
the line to God. You have been using the tremendous power 
you possess, by halting, resisting, fighting against God. You 
know the contest is unequal ; and though you put yourself in a 
hostile attitude to the great and dreadful God, he will conquer 
you. What are you, to fight against God? He can shake the 
universe into atoms in a moment of time, by one single act of 
his great power. We tell you, he will conquer you ; he will 
put you in the winding-sheet, fill your mouth with clay, and 
hurl your soul into hell. You see there before you a throne of 
mercy ; and you feel conscious you can go there, or stay away. 
You can say, " If there be mercy in heaven I will find it," or, 
" Away with him, away with him ! I will not have this man to 
reign over me." The great Spirit, the glorifier of Christ, 
the third person in the trinity, comes to you, not to drag and 
compel you to be saved, but he gently takes hold of your free 
agency, and leads you up to Calvary to view the claims of a 
dying Saviour, and says, YIELD, and you know you have the 
power to refuse or obey. Ah ! it is this power that constitutes 



A CALL TO DECISION. 145 

your responsibility. Do you still plead your inability to accept 
of mercy ? I ask, what is there in this process you cannot do ? 
1 dare say you have a room, or some place of retirement. Though 
your Saviour could say, " The foxes have holes, and the birds of 
the air have nests, but the Son of God hath not where to lay his 
head," I doubt not but you are in this sense better off than your 
Master. You have legs, and with those legs you could walk up 
into your room, and kneel down before God. You have a mem- 
ory, and you can allow that memory to run back on the years 
gone by, and call up the deeds of iniquity you have committed. 
You have a tongue, and with that tongue you can ask God, for 
Christ's sake, to forgive you. You can say, " God be merciful 
to me a sinner." You can do all this ; and I ask, do you think, 
were you to do so sincerely, would the blessed God repel you 
from his throne ? No, he will cast out none. Now, this is just 
what the Spirit of God has been trying to do with you. This is 
the point to which he has been trying to bring you — to bring you 
to Christ. But sometimes free agency turns rampant, and cries, 
" Away with him." Poor sinner, take hold of this power which 
the divine Spirit brings to you, and he will not rest till you are 
a sinner saved by grace. This is a most important point. O ! 
that we could get sinners to use this precious power — a power 
which has come upon them in virtue of the great atoning death 
of Christ ! This power is a golden chain linked to the throne of 
God, and let down within their reach. The sinking sinner may 
seize it, and live forever. This power is a ladder, let down from 
heaven to earth. You may step upon it, and ascend to glory. 
The first round, at least, is within your reach, close at your 
foot. O, sinner, what mean you by your mad, reckless course, 
— to sit down and perish while help is at hand ? See ! see ! 
that poor sailor has tumbled overboard yonder. " All hands 
ahoy ! " shouts the watch, — " a man overboard." There he rises 
upon the waves, and again he sinks ; once more he rises to the 
surface, — now they see him. There ! a rope is thrown out to 
him ; but some unaccountable stupor has come over him, — though 
the rope is within his reach, and he may be saved by laying 
hold of it, yet there he sinks and perishes, while every effort has 
13 



146 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

been made to save him. That, sinner, is just your case — per- 
ishing while the golden chain swings by you. 

" But how may I know," says one, " that the Spirit is striving 
to lead me to decision ? " I answer, by two ways. By head 
weights and heart weights. Firstly, by head weights. The 
Holy Ghost shoots in — shoots in light into the sinner's dark 
soul, until the sinner makes tremendous discoveries. He be- 
comes startled, and alarmed for his safety. Deep troubles heave 
and toss in his soul. " 0," says one, " I have none of those 
troubles." Stay, stay! — you had them once; you had them 
until you grieved away the Holy Spirit, and now he has left 
you to sail on, wrapt up in your own delusion, undisturbed, to 
move on right in the direction of hell — untroubled — quiet. 
Ah ! these dead calms are only the precursors of the storm, — 
the stillness that precedes the violent concussions of the earth- 
quakes ! These guilty calms will be followed by the hurricanes 
of hell — the eternal storms that will rage on the lake that 
burnetii for ever and ever. Ah ! one of the grandest events in 
your history would be the return again of the Holy Ghost; to 
trouble you. 

" Stay, thou insulted Spirit, stay, 
Nor take thine everlasting flight." 

Secondly, heart weights. Many of you know something 
about these heart weights ; you have had considerable expe- 
rience in these matters ; you have many a time been troubled 
by abstractions of mind, vacancy of thought, secret uneasiness. 
Sometimes that unbidden tear has stolen down your cheeks, and 
you could scarcely tell why — some unaccountaDle alarm about 
the future — some undefined dread of some all-pervading spirit 
fixing a searching gaze upon you. Many a time you wished 
you had never been born, or that your station had been fixed 
among the harmless creatures that browse in the fields ; who 
have no account to render up — no judgment day to face — no 
frowning God to meet — no hell to be terrified at. These heart 
weights have spoiled your pleasure. Now, I do not pretend to 
be a prophet; but it is my solemn conviction that one of two 



A CALL TO DECISION. 147 

things will happen to you ere long, — either you will be con- 
verted, or a sickness unto death will come upon you. Trifle 
with this, if you please, but remember the words of Him who 
has said, " He that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, 
shall suddenly be destroyed without remedy." Still, you refuse 
to take hold of help — to yield to the Spirit. What, we ask, 
will be the result ? See, see, yonder mighty range of moun- 
tains. The ravines are deep — the summits are high and 
craggy. It is the Alpine mountains. The passage across them 
is one of danger, of difficulty, of peril. Do you see that man 
on the summit of the first mountain there, casting a glance 
across the perilous passage ? He is about to attempt that fear- 
ful journey. See ! now his friends are gathering around him. 
See how earnest they are in trying to dissuade him from his 
determination ; but he is resolved — nothing can shake his pur- 
pose. The sun is setting behind the western mountains ; the 
shadows of night deepen fast around him. All is now night 
— dark, dark night. Scarcely a twinkling star is seen, to 
relieve the profound gloom. Part of the road across the Alps 
lies along a tremendous precipice ; and many of the passes are 
so narrow, that a single step will plunge him into the deeps 
below. See ! a kind friend brings and presents to him a bril- 
liant lamp, and entreats him to accept it to light his feet over 
the fearful passage ; but he dashes that lamp on the earth, and 
tramples it under his feet. He commences his journey; he 
moves on in the solemn gloom, under the shadow of the mighty 
mountain. Do you not see him climbing his way along the nar- 
row passes, as the lurid lightnings blaze and play around him ? 
All again is dark — dark as the tomb. Hark ! hark ! did you 
hear that fearful scream, rising above the wild moaning wind ? 
He 's over the precipice — he 's gone — he 's dashed in pieces ! 
Poor, halting sinner, such will be your case, without the lamp of 
life — without the Holy Spirit's guidance. Quench not the 
Spirit ; reject not the lamp that Heaven tenders to you. You 
cannot reach the celestial gate without it. Enemies lurk in 
those, passes that lie in your road. ^ The lion of hell prowls 
about those mountains ; fiends lie concealed in the gloom of 



148 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

your way. Take with you, we entreat you, the lamp ; spurn 
not the heavenly light. A ship, passing round Cape Horn, with- 
out a pilot, in the rigor of winter, when waves rise like moun- 
tains to dash the vessel in pieces, is nothing compared to the 
danger of attempting the passage to heaven without the Holy 
Ghost. Still, you halt. Ah ! the scream of the man falling 
over the precipice is nothing, compared with the shriek that 
you will utter as you fall down from the precipice of mercy to 
the hell below. How long, then, halt ye between two opinions ? 

III. YOU ARE UNWILLING TO PAY THE PRICE. 

That butcher and bookseller there must shut up their shops 
on the Lord's day. I tell you, you must pay this price — you 
must shut up that shop of yours. You sometimes shed a tear, 
and intend to do better ; you sometimes read a chapter in the 
Bible, and attend the preaching of the word. But it 's all of no 
use. Your coming to chapel is all in vain ; your prayers and 
vows are an abomination to God ; — and, unless you take care, 
amidst your contributions, tears, efforts-, and prayers, you will 
go down to hell with a lie in your right hand. I tell you, God 
would as soon save the devil as you, while you keep that shop 
open on a Sabbath. You must pay this price, or there is no 
salvation for you. I once more deliver my solemn message 
from God to you, and I tell you, unless you shut up your doors 
on the holy Sabbath, God will soon shut your body up in the 
grave, and your soul in the prison of hell. 

Unless I am greatly mistaken, there is a man in this congre- 
gation living in a state of adultery. The woman was the weaker 
vessel, and you have seduced and led her away from the path of 
virtue. It took you a considerable time to accomplish your fear- 
ful task. Such was her instinctive clinging to the path of vir- 
tue, that it required all your stronger powers of mind and 
fiend-like craft, to gain your guilty purpose. What have you 
done ? You have acted the part of the great leader of hell ; 
you have dragged down an angel from her throne of virtue — 
committed soul murder. Blood, blood, soul-blood is on your 
conscience ; it stains all your garments ; it is upon your hab- 



A CALL TO DECISION. 149 

itation ; it cries up to heaven against you — vengeance ! ven- 
geance ! ! VENGEANCE ! ! ! You have not only done all 
you can to damn the soul of an immortal being, but you have 
committed a great suicidal act on your own undying spirit. 
You have done what you can to sink your own soul into the 
darkest, deepest, hottest hell — where, if there be a hotter fire, 
a keener pang, a deeper gulf, a louder scream, they will be 
yours. O! what a miserable path you have already had — 
what twinges of conscience — what dread of the future ! The 
very fires of perdition seem at times to break out in your soul ; 
and all this is but the beginning of the gnawing of the worm 
that never dies — of the fire that shall never be quenched. I 
believe she will yet get you into hell first. You have been the 
most guilty party. I tell you, there is no salvation for you till 
you give her up. " What ! " says one, " are not you a Metho- 
dist preacher, and do you mean to limit redemption ? You are 
the first Methodist preacher I ever heard do that." I am, 1 
am a Methodist preacher, and I do mean to say the blood of 
Christ won't reach your case, unless you give up that woman. 
You may weep, and stay at the penitent meeting, if you like ; 
but I tell you, one of the lost souls in perdition will as soon obtain 
salvation as you, till you give her up. O, my God ! rescue this 
sinner ; snatch him from the gulf that yawns at his feet ; make 
thy lightnings flash around him ; roll forth thy seven-fold thun- 
ders to break the spell that binds him ! I ask you, man, will 
you give up that woman? — will you give her up, and be 
saved ? 

There is that young man there. Ah ! you have put your 
hand into your master's till, and appropriated to yourself what 
was not your own. You frequented the gambling table — went 
with pleasure parties on the Lord's day — kept up a style of liv- 
ing beyond your income, and have sometimes been found in 
places scarcely fit to mention in a public audience. Your bills 
have come due, and you could not meet them. You looked 
round you, and every resource failed. Now you were brought 
to a stand still. Two courses opened before you : either to 
abandon your associates, give up your engagements, and turn 
13* 



150 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

from the paths that lead down to the chambers of hell ; or do 
an act at which you shuddered, — an act that would stamp 
your character with thief. Conscience rose up before this deed, 
and thundered, and you trembled. There stood conscience with 
her drawn sword right before you, like the naming cherubim at 
the tree of life, and you tried to bribe her ; and you said to her, 
"I do not mean to steal it; I am not a thief; I only borrow it 
for a while ; " — and then you managed to put your hand into 
the till, and take out five shillings. Ah ! you remember that 
first five shillings. You then crossed the bridge. That one act 
gave an impetus to you in your path to ruin. You sunk even 
in your own estimation, and from that date you entered on a 
more reckless and desperate course. Ah ! what a guilty wretch 
you have since that time proved ! You have escaped detec- 
tion ; your master looks upon you as an honorable young 
man; your character stands fair with the world; no human 
eye saw you ; — but God's angel-reporter saw you, and recorded 
the transaction. And there it stands in heaven's register-book, 
with date and circumstances, in all its particulars, in flaming 
characters ; — there it stands, and it rises up like a great wall 
of fire between you and the Cross of Christ — between you and 
salvation. God will never forgive you till you make restitution. 
You may pray till doomsday — you may weep tears of blood — 
you may fast till your body is a skeleton — but the heavens will 
be to you like a wall of brass, till you return that money. Send 
it back — send it back with interest. I ask you to-night, young 
man, will you give up that money ? You see there are just two 
things before you — restitution, or no salvation. O, sinner, 
give up the money, and lay hold on eternal life ! Ah ! there 
are many others here that have, in many other ways, appro- 
priated to themselves what was not their own. You must give 
it up — you must give it up — you must make restitution, or 
sacrifice heaven. You cannot have them both. How long halt 
ye as to which you shall choose ? 

O ! what has not been done to bring you to a decision ? 
The ministers of mercy have led you up around Calvary's 
mount, and in melting strains have cried, "Immortal man, 



A CALL TO DECISION. 151 

behold the agonies of the Son of God ! He suffered that for 
you." They have then taken you up around the celestial par- 
adise, and pointed you to its glories, its songs, its mansions, its 
thrones, and said, " Sinner ! sinner ! that is purchased for thee. 
Seize thy blood-bought crown." They have then conducted you 
down around hell's yawning gulf, and cried, " Behold its tor- 
mented captives ! Gaze on its woes ! Listen to its shrieks, its 
howlings, its thunders ! " — and said, " Man, escape — escape for 
thy life ! " The Father has called — the Son has pleaded — 
the Spirit has striven — the ministers of God have stood in the 
temple, and cried, "Repent!" and reasoned of a judgment to 
come. Angels have remonstrated, mercy besought, heaven has 
frowned and smiled, hell has roared, time has fled, death has 
shaken his dart, and threatened to make repentance vain. In 
your path to death, the Cross rose up like a flaming barrier, and 
to stop you, Jesus Christ lay across the road that leads to hell, 
and you have had to stumble over the Cross. If you perish, 
you must make the Son of God a stepping-stone to a deeper 
damnation ; and, strange to say, you have closed your eyes, your 
ears, to all advice, all reproof, and rushed on over judgment and 
mercy ; — or, if you have paused for a moment in your down- 
ward course, you have looked at heaven, and then at sin and pleas- 
ure, and you have halted. Yes, you have halted. Amidst the 
cry of the perishing, the shouts of the saved, the roar of the 
enemy, the rush of time, you have halted. Now, we resolve 
to-night to drive you to decision for heaven or hell. But, poor 
sinner, our heart bleeds over you — why will you die ? By the 
majesty of God, by the joys of the sleepless congregation of the 
church triumphant, by your undying interest, by the death- 
agonies of Jesus, by the groans of the Son of God, by the thun- 
ders of a dissolving world, by the wail of the damned, decide, 
decide now for God ; or, if not for God, then decide for Baal. 
That, then, is your decision, is it ? You have made up your 
mind, have you, to embrace the world — to drink deep of its cup ? 
Then we give you a little advice : Sleep on now, and take your 
rest. You have had no rest while you have been trimming 
between these two opinions; your conscience has been a rack; 



152 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

thoughts of the future have haunted your midnight hours. 
Seek, now, what little happiness thou canst from the world ; 
seek for it in every earthly enjoyment ; walk in the ways of 
thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes ; gratify every pas- 
sion ; deck thy person with everything attractive in the world's 
eye ; enter every scene of amusement ; select for thy compan- 
ions the most jovial of the world ; purchase every luxury of 
life ; drink with the drunken ; sing with the loudest ; never 
enter the house of God, or thy conscience will be disturbed ; 
forsake every means of grace, close the Bible, and let the dust 
thicken on its covers ; never let thine eye glance at a religious 
book ; shun the people of God as thy greatest enemies ; never 
listen to the voice of conscience ; drive the Holy Spirit from thy 
breast ; never turn thine eye towards Calvary ; banish all 
thoughts of heaven from thy mind ; smile at death ; laugh at 
eternity ; look up to the throne of the Great Eternal and cry, 
" Who is the Lord, that I should serve him ? " stand on the edge 
of the infernal gulf, and shout, " Hail ! thou profoundest hell." 
If you have a good principle, go through with it. Poor sinner ! 
get all the happiness thou canst, for it is all thou wilt ever 
have. Thou refusest the sweet rest of religion ; — get all thou 
canst from the world, for the time is near when thou wilt never 
rest for a moment again. All thy rest is on this side of the 
tomb. There is none beyond for thee, unless the yell of dev- 
ils, the groans of the damned, the roar of the eternal storm, the 
taunt of fiends, the quenchless flame, the gnawings of the undy- 
ing worms, the fire-beds of hell, be rest, — unless recollections 
of having lost a day of grace, trampled on the precious blood 
of Christ, and forfeited heaven, be your rest, — unless the com- 
pany of lost men and lost angels, God's eternal anger, the Re- 
deemer's eternal frown, and the braving of the howlings of an 
eternal night, be rest. If these things cannot give you rest, 
then there is no rest for you beyond the grave. Decide, then, 
if not for heaven, for hell. How long, then, halt ye between 
two opinions ? 



SERMON XI.* 



AN INVITATION TO STRAITENED SOULS. 

"Even so would he hare removed thee out of the strait into the broad place, where 
there is no straitness, and that which should be set on thy table should be full of fat- 
ness."— Job 36: 16. 

I think I have seen, perhaps, as much or more of Methodist 
people than the generality of this congregation. I have mingled 
with them in both hemispheres by hundreds and thousands ; and 
from all I have seen of them I come to the conclusion that they 
may be divided into two classes — those who take high ground in 
religion, — that is, holy ground, — and those who take low ground. 
Some will say, " But do you intend to divide all into two 
classes ? " Yes ; there is a third class, but it is not worth mention- 
ing to-night, — the unconverted class, — for there are unconverted 
members of the Methodist church, as well as others. Metho- 
dism is cursed w T ith unconverted members, as well as other 
churches, who live without salvation, who are just like the brutes 
that went into Noah's ark; — they went in brutes, and came out 
brutes ; — they came among the Methodists unconverted, and they 
go into eternity in the same manner. Perhaps there are three 
hundred persons on the secretary's books who, on this and the 
other side of the river, have obtained a clear evidence of their 
justification, and who believe in God that they have found sal- 
vation. Now, I ask you, and also those who have been recovered 
from a blacksliding state, what would have become of you, if 
you had died in your past state ? You would have gone to 
hell. 

* A farewell sermon, preached in Sans-street chapel, Sunderland (Eng.) 



154 - REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

Now, as to the second class, — those who are on low ground in 
religion. How often, when it has been said in this sort, " My 
dear sister, how is it that you do not enjoy so much religion as 
this or the other person ? " you have replied, " If I had as good a 
husband as that person, I should enjoy as much religion ;" or, "If 
I had a house as well furnished, or as good a family ; but in my 
present circumstances I can make no pretensions to having a 
high degree of grace." Or, if one of you has been asked why 
he, like that good brother, had not always the smiles of Heaven 
on his face, he has replied, " If I had a wife like that man, or as 
good a business, and was getting on as well in the world, I should 
be as happy as he ; but I am perplexed and troubled in various 
matters, and I have made up my mind that if I can just get 
religion, I shall do very well." Ah ! it is throwing the blame on 
God ; it is saying that God is not as good to you as he ought to 
have been, and that he has not placed you in such circumstances 
as are best for your spiritual welfare. Brother, if you have an 
honest calling, and earn your bread honestly, though you are not 
worth a shilling, you may have religion in your soul. I think 
it is Goldsmith who says, " Every feeling which leads us to 
expect happiness somewhere else than where we are, lays a 
foundation for uneasiness." A man may enjoy as much religion, 
if he has not a second coat to his back, as the man who is 
clothed in broadcloth, and has a large wardrobe. 

What, then, are we to understand by these terms, " Even so 
would he have removed thee out of the straight into a broad 
place, where there is no straitness " ? What is literally strait- 
ness v ? I suppose the word strait here means narrow. The 
place between two mountains, that is a strait, — a narrow pass- 
age. Seamen will understand it by a reference to the Straits 
of Gibraltar. They say such and such straits are dangerous to 
pass through ; and sailors know well that it is often dangerous to 
go through straits, — there is no sea-room in them. I have 
been on the Atlantic when the thunder has roared, the light- 
ning flashed, and the mighty waves have dashed upon the deck, 
and when our hearts have failed within us ; yet there was plenty 



AN INVITATION TO STRAITENED SOULS. 155 

of sea-room, and although the very sails were torn into strips, 
there was no danger of shipwreck on a lee-shore. 

A strait implies a difficulty of choice ; hence St. Paul said, 
" I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to 
be with Christ, which is far better." 

We say of a man, when he cannot pay his debts, that he is 
in straitened circumstances ; and I find that in various countries 
they have terms to express the same state. In Scotland they 
say pinched or hampered : in America, that he has a hard row 
to hoe. This expression is in reference to the hoeing of sugar 
or corn. Sometimes one row is harder than another, and one 
poor fellow lags behind the rest because he has got a harder row 
to hoe ; and so, when anybody is in great pecuniary trouble, it is 
said he has a hard row to hoe. We say a man is in a strait 
when he has a large family and a small income ; and many a 
professor of religion is straitened when he gets to class and finds 
there is no religion in him. His leader gets up and says, " Brother, 
how do you feel ? " He is straitened, and if not disposed to act 
the part of the hypocrite, he has scarcely a word to say. But if 
he has got religion, he is not straitened at all; his heart is full, 
his soul is full, he has a living spring of joy within himself; he 
is in a broad place ; he equally meets the demands of the law and 
Christian love ; " he rejoices evermore, prays without ceasing," 
and thanks God for everything. 

So much for the literal meaning of the words. I cannot tell 
whether I have hit your views on this point ; but it is not par- 
ticular, if you understand that as strait places are unpleasant in 
temporal circumstances, they are also unpleasant in spiritual 
affairs. 

The next point is, why the Almighty Father uses these words 
to every professor of religion in this chapel. I wish to be under- 
stood that I take the passage in its evangelical sense, and there- 
fore shall leave Elihu and Job, and apply it directly to ourselves, 
and mention some reasons why our Heavenly Father uses these 
as his words. God knows, you have had plenty of it, brethren ; 
you have been straitened in your souls long enough, narrow and 
contracted, always in a strait in feeling, — as lean as Pharaoh's 



156 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

lean kine, — a lean heart. Many a time you have said, " O ! 
my leanness ! " When you have got down to pray, you have 
said, " O ! my leanness ! " You have been straitened for words 
and ideas, and have had a sad time of it. My brother and 
sister, pray " Bring me out of a strait place to-night," — I wish 
you may do so. Amen. 

The first reason is, that the grand designs of Christ may be 
answered. You remember the shedding of Christ's blood had 
two ends in view, — the first to obtain pardon, and the second 
purity. " Without the shedding of blood there can be no remis- 
sion." " The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth from all 
sin." When you have obtained a remission of sin and a sense 
of pardon, if you are content with these, you go into a strait 
place, as sure as you are a man. Says one, " Why ? " Because 
if you go out as the Reubenites, and do not cross over Jordan to 
Canaan, you will get into a strait place. So long as you are 
only justified and not purified, you are only half a believer ; and 
do you think Christ can be satisfied with your being half a 
believer ? Christ pleads for you ; and much of your straitened 
feeling is to make you forsake the low ground, and bring you to 
a higher state of religion. 

Another reason why our Heavenly Father uses these words 
is to take us into a broad place out of straitness. If I under- 
stand anything, the Lord wishes us to be happy, and oh the 
meaning of the words "Rejoice evermore," — and "again I say 
rejoice." Now, brethren, happiness and holiness are inseparable 
companions, and sin and misery are wedded as close together. 

My brethren, in proportion as you carry in your breasts sin, 
you carry misery, — you carry a portion of hell in your nature, — 
you carry a little of the fire of hell in your nature, — you carry 
a little of the worm that never dies, that is the torment of the 
wicked in hell, — you carry the dread instrument that torments 
the damned forever. While you have sin, you have part of the 
devil's mark in your nature, that will distinguish the sheep from 
the goats ; you have the sharpness of the sting, the hottest 
coals of hell, in your nature, and therefore your conversion must 
be connected with unhappy feeling until God purifies your heart. 



AN INVITATION TO STRAITENED SOULS. 157 

So long as you are only partly renewed in heart and life, and 
God and the devil divide your life, you will be inconsistent 
inside and outside, and inconsistency always brings with it 
unhappiness of mind. "Even so would he have removed thee 
out of the strait into a broad place, where there is no straitness." 
Again : his desire is that we should be contented with all our 
circumstances. Says God, " Contentment is great gain." Now, 
in order to my being contented with my present state of soul, I 
must know first that I can be in no better state. If I have felt 
that I have been so lean and in such a strait place, is not God 
willing to remove my leanness, and to give me a broad place, or 
must I be content with my present state ? Have I felt that God 
himself can make me no better by his Spirit, and that I am just 
as well as I can be ? Ah, this will not do ! God can remove my 
secret trouble, and I never can be content until the blood of 
Christ cleanses me from all sin. And hence, my friend, what 
has been the state of your soul for years ? Why, looking back 
and saying, " I was very happy at such a time when God con- 
verted me some years ago, and I hope I shall be so again in the 
future, but there is a difficulty in my experience." Is that so, 
brother ? You don't seem to have a present tense to your hap- 
piness. That is the difficulty with you. I recollect, in my read- 
ing, meeting with this remark, " Some people's good days are 
like the verbs in the Hebrew language ; there is no present tense, 
— all is in the past or future." When 1 saw this, I was some 
thousands of miles from you, and there w r as sitting beside me a 
young man from Scotland, who was seeking religion and desir- 
ing to be very happy. I said, " My friend, hearken to this : — 
Some people's good days are like the verbs in the Hebrew lan- 
guage ; there is no present tense, — all is in the past or future." 
" Ah, yes," says he, with deep emotion," and that puts me in 
mind of what the poet says : 

• Hope springs eternal in the human breast ; 
Man never is, but always to be blest.' " 

Do you know that you English people sent over to America 
a recipe to make people happy ? but I can tell you it never worked 
14 



158 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

in America ; I don't think it ever made man or woman happy. 
Says one, " What was the recipe ? " Why, it was this. " Thank 
God for the good things he has given you in this life, and prom- 
ises you in the life to come. If any one goes into a garden to 
gather cobwebs and spiders, he will find plenty of them ; but if 
he goes for flowers, he will return with the flowers of happiness 
blooming in his bosom." If you are in a strait place, you may 
think of the good things that God has promised you in the next 
world ; but you will go into the garden of domestic comfort, and, 
instead of gathering flowers to bloom in your bosom, you will 
get cobwebs and spiders, — or plants to make you as lean as 
Pharaoh's kine. Never, till you carry a holy heart into the 
shop, the parlor, and the market, or on the river and sea, — never, 
till you carry a holy heart about with you, — can you go into the 
garden of domestic comfort, and come back with flowers of hap- 
piness blooming in your bosom, — no, never till you graduate 
into holiness. 

This sentiment of the writer relative to the Hebrew verbs does 
not apply to others. Some of us have happy days, — like our 
good old English verbs, our happiness has a present tense. 
Happy yesterday, happy this week, happy this month, happy this 
year ; blessed be God, happy next day, happy next week, happy 
next month, happy next year, and, blessed be God, happy now. 
As regards us, this sentiment of Pope is not correct. And if we 
have got religion, if the Holy Spirit has made us a holy heart, 
we are exceptions. Blessed be God, those who are converted to 
God, and enjoy holiness and perfect love, they are holy — they 
are blessed. Poor Byron ! how I have felt when I have read 
that sentiment of his, in which he says, " I have been thinking 
over how many days I have been happy in my life, and I have 
never been able to make more than eleven ; and I have often 
wondered in my mind whether I can make the round dozen 
between this time and my death." Whether poor Byron made 
out the round dozen I cannot tell ; but oh, give me the Bible, 
give me religion, give me holiness, and, bless God, I shall have a 
better story to tell than poor Byron. 

I think if I can gather anything of the mind of God, it is that 



AN INVITATION TO STRAITENED SOULS. 159 

we should be useful. As holiness and happiness are inseparable 
companions, holiness and usefulness are very closely connected, 
— more so, perhaps, than any of you are aware of. In propor- 
tion as a man is holy, God can use him without destroying him by 
pride and vanity. I was struck, during the first year of my min- 
istry, with a sentiment contained in one of Mr. Wesley's letters, 
and a letter written, too, before he was converted (which is a 
most remarkable thing). His mother had written to him at col- 
lege, wishing him to take a parish in the Established Church; 
and after reading this letter, he replied as follows : " My dear 
mother, I am persuaded of this, that the more holy a man is, the 
more God can use him without the danger of destroying him by 
pride and vanity." Bless God, these words were written on my 
heart whilst on my first circuit in North America. Brethren, a 
holy heart is one free from pride and vanity ; and when God can 
use us without puffing us up with pride and vanity, he will do 
so. 

There are many local preachers here. Bless God for the 
local preachers ! O ye local preachers, sometimes when ye go 
into distant places and take a text, you have liberty, — you feel 
that you are a flame, and can say anything ; but perhaps you 
have not been long in the pulpit before the devil and you begin 
talking together, and you fancy you can preach as w r ell as the 
travelling preachers ; and perhaps sinners get converted under 
your instrumentality, and you go home feeling rather big. The 
next time you have gone, you have been as dry as a stick ; you 
have had no power, no unction, and you have broke all down. 
If you had a holy heart, when God put his hand out for the con- 
version of sinners on that occasion, you would have been humbled, 
and said, " What a poor insignificant worm I am, dependent on 
my God every moment ! " and the next time you would have 
been a flame again, and the instances of good would have been 
multiplied, until by and by you had been made an instrument in 
the hands of God for the conversion of the surrounding country. 
Many a time God has watched you. Some of you may say, 
" Am I called to preach the Gospel ? " If you are not called, you 
have no business in the pulpit ; but if you feel a call, and say, 



160 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

" Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel," and God has warmed 
your heart, sent you away happy from preaching, and converted 
sinners under your instrumentality, you have no cause to doubt. 
The man who feels a yearning for souls, and power in preach- 
ing, who sees God awakening sinners, is not required to go 
to heaven to know whether God calls him ; he need not go to 
the depths to know whether he is called to preach the Gospel; 
his ratification is in the inward glow which he feels, the unction 
and power; and, brethren, you have had it over.and over again. 
And God gives talents to those he calls, — whom he calls he 
qualifies ; but many a time God has called to the work a man in 
whom there have been pride, self-will, and vanity lurking. 
Brethren, the Lord then puts a curtain between you and useful- 
ness, and watches your operations. Take the purest glass of 
water and place dirt in it, the dirt will sink to the bottom ; but 
shake it, and it will come up again. So God shakes you to bring 
out all your imperfections. ' Parents do not place knives or sharp 
instruments in the hands of children, lest they should thereby 
be injured ; and God does not give you what you cannot bear. 
Some local preachers may have prayed, " 0, that, instead of 
going to preach in yonder little chapel to twenty or thirty per- 
sons, God would make me a flame, double my congregation, and 
make me a blessing." Brethren, he sees you cannot bear it, and 
hence he keeps the curtain down. Many a time he has said, " I 
would make him a flame of fire, but he cannot do with it." You 
have given the Lord a great deal of trouble since you became a 
local preacher. Brother, I believe God will make you a bless- 
ing by sending you into the'country, if you will get baptized by 
the Holy Spirit ; but you are a curse to the ministry, as you now 
stand. In the name of God, what say you ? This may be the 
last sermon you will hear preached, — what say you ? Will you 
allow me to press this on you, dear brother ? If you wish to be 
a flame of fire, if you desire the curtain to be withdrawn, if you 
wish to be a flail in the hands of God to crush sinners, what say 
you ? I feel controlled in consequence of having had an over- 
whelming weight of labor, and I am afraid of getting into a tem- 
pest of feeling ; but if anything would rouse me to a tempest, it 



AN INVITATION TO STRAITENED SOULS. 161 

would be on behalf of those men of God, who, without fee or 
reward, go east, west, north, and south, to preach the Gospel, 
earning their bread by the sweat of their face during the week. 
My dear brother, how I should like you to get purified ! You 
know, brother, you must have holiness, if you wish to be an 
instrument of usefulness in the hands of God. 

The Lord says, I would remove thee out of a strait into a broad 
place. Perhaps a class-leader here may say, " O, give me a 
room full of people ! " He would, but he sees you cannot bear 
it. He sees that, whenever you get influence in the church of 
God, you become high-minded, and want all your own way. 
Perhaps four or five meet you, and you are as cold as death. If 
they had not had principle in them, they would have left you 
long ago ; but they have principle, and they say, " We will stand 
by our leader, though he is as cold as a piece of ice." O, if ye 
would but be pure, the Lord would make the place too strait for 
all to come. My brother, " Even so would he have removed 
thee out of the strait into a broad place, where there is no strait- 
ness." I care not how high a man's talents may be, — if he is not 
holy, he is a poor stick in the house of God. Take the best 
mechanic in Sunderland, put him into a little room, and give 
him the best tools a man ever handled, and say, " Make what I 
require ;" but, says he, "I have no room." You say, " There is a 
good axe, — use it ; there are planes and compasses, — use them." 
"Yes," he replies, "but I want room, — give me room. I am 
packed up in this little place ; nc-man can use an axe or hand- 
saw here, — give me a larger workshop." So is it if you have 
the best weapons in the Bible armory, — if you have a strait 
place, and the devil has put you in a corner, so that you have not 
elbow-room, your work will never succeed. Get your soul into a 
broad place — hallelujah ! — where you can have room to work. 

I look round upon this congregation, and think how much 
would be done for God, if you had purity and holiness. I believe 
many of you, in consequence of being unholy, are not in the 
place in the house of God in which you ought to be. You have 
got straitened. Many of you had a call to preach the Gospel 
many years ago, and you have turned your head this way and 
14* * 



1 62 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

that, and have not known which way to turn. You have said, 
perhaps, " Why was I called, if a way was not opened ? " and 
whenever unhappy, you have been tempted to give in. The 
door was strait. Now, I tell you God is willing that the place 
should be enlarged ; he only wants you to be purified, and the 
time will soon come when you shall preach. You must first 
tarry at Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high. 
God wants you ; there are plenty of sinners to be converted ; he 
will take you down to the docks yonder, and make you a flame 
of fire, and your voice shall be heard even across the river. He 
does not want you to go into the pulpit just now, but he 
will make you a flame of fire along the lanes and at the corners 
of streets, long before the clergy or ministers are stirring. You 
might have half a dozen of the poor of Sunderland gathered 
around you, and God might give you the souls of the poor, who, 
after weathering every storm of this world's vicissitudes, shall 
gather glory around your head forever. But you are not ready ; 
and, therefore, though he has called you, he has not given you 
anything to do. 

I believe, brother, you will never have prosperity till you obey 
this call. I am speaking to a man who hears me, and under- 
stands me. But God will not let you render obedience until 
you are purified. Lord help me ! I dare not give way to my 
feelings, but still I like the man so well that I must say, " Will 
you not get purified to-night — will you not get endued with 
power from on high ? " There.are some here who ought to be 
class-leaders ; you have nothing to do, and the reason is, you 
are not holy yet. Some of you are sunk low in your temporal 
affairs. The reason is, you have not given your heart fully to 
God ; your business does not nourish, because you are not holy. 
I am one of those who believe, with an English poet, that 

" God gives to every man the talents, temper, taste, 
Then lets him fall into the niche 
He was ordained to fill." 

There are some men who have thousands of gold and silver, 
and he will not allow them to enjoy, it, because it would send 



V 

AN INVITATION TO STRAITENED SOULS. 163 

them to hell forever ; but if they were purified, he would bless 
them, and make them a blessing to the church of the living 
God. Thus, for want of holiness, one after another of them is 
thrown into the back-ground ; and there are some here this 
evening to whom the words of the poet will apply, — words well 
known, almost thread-bare, yet after all very sweet, — 

" Full many a gem of purest ray serene 

The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear ; 
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 
And waste its sweetness on the desert air." 

Full many a gem now lies down in the mines of sickness 
and poverty, which might sparkle in the diadem of the church, 
and dazzle and burn and blaze ; but the reason is, it is not 
holy. Full many a flower, that wastes its sweetness on the 
desert air of obscurity, might open and bloom like a flower 
of paradise, and spread its fragrance through the whole church 
of God; but it wastes its sweetness, because it is not purified. 

O ye new converts, my heart feels for you ! You will be 
like the backslidden ones, if you do not glorify God. You will 
be hampered all your lives, if you are not purified. You will 
begin the battle with a heart grieving the Spirit, and by and by 
you will be poor dry things. Make up your mind, young con- 
vert, and do not rest till you are purified. I was much struck 
with a passage of an English writer, some time ago : he says, 
" Should it ever fall to the lot of youth to read these pages, let 
him bear in remembrance that the author, now in his man- 
hood, regrets deeply the opportunities of learning which he 
neglected in youth, and all through life in his literary career 
he has been pinched and hampered by the deficiences of an 
early education ;" and he adds, " I would part with the half 
of my reputation, if the remaining half could rest on the true 
foundation of science and learning. Now, then, if you neglect 
the education of holiness in your early experience, you will 
be pinched and hampered through life for the want of it." In 
the name of God, make up your mind ! The hour is now past . 
and it is time I had finished preaching ; but my heart is fuD 



164 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

of this subject. How many of you in that gallery will give 
yourselves fully to God to-night? How many of you want 
purity? How many of you wish to be removed from your 
present straitness into a broad place? Then take the lesson 
with you, — "What things soever you desire when ye pray, 
believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." 



EEVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

PART II. 



CHAPTER I. 

IS ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION A GRADUAL OR AN INSTAN- 
TANEOUS WORK? 

It is frequently asked, " Is the blessing of entire sanctifica- 
tion gradual, or is it instantaneous 1 ?" I answer, in three 
respects it is gradual, and in one only is it instantaneous. 1st. 
It is gradual, from the fact that it begins in the moment 
of justification ; and so long as the new convert is faithful, the 
work steadily advances in his soul, till he is sanctified entirely, 
throughout soul, body, and spirit; and, 2d. So long as he con- 
tinues faithful, there is no pause in his advancement to higher 
degrees of love and holiness, until he is released from this tab- 
ernacle of clay. This is what the apostle meant, I imagine, by 
" perfecting holiness.'''' 3d. Nor does the work pause in heaven; 
it is gradually progressive throughout eternity. In one respect 
only is entire sanctification instantaneous, — the entire separation 
of sin from the soul. This must necessarily be in a moment, 
if the believer is purified before he enters eternity. 

The argument may, therefore, be brought within a narrow 
compass ; nor need brevity induce obscurity. If you admit the 
following simple propositions, a multiplicity of words will be 
avoided, as they frequently only darken counsel. 1st. That 
justification and " entire sanctification " are two distinct bless- 
ings. 2d. That each is to be distinctly apprehended and received 
by faith. This you will not be inclined to doubt, if you have 
consulted Romans 5:1; Acts 26 : 18 ; and Acts 15 : 9. 3d. 
That justification implies the forgiveness of sins, and, conse- 



166 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

quently, deliverance in full from condemnation. Romans 8: 1. 
4th. That regeneration is inseparable from justification ; and 
that this, in the nature of things, must include sanctification, — 
begun. 5th. That " entire sanctification " — such as that for 
which the apostle prays in 1 Thessalonians 5 : 23 — is, 1. A full 
and unreserved consecration of the whole man to God. 2. The 
entire conformation of every power of body, soul, and spirit, to 
the will and likeness of God. 6th. That this stands inseparably 
connected with a state of purity, such as is recognized in that 
exalted command, — " Be ye holy, for I the Lord your God am 
holy ;" and again, — " Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven 
is perfect ;" such as that which is so beautifully expressed by 
St. John, — " For every man that hath this hope in him purifieth 
himself, even as he is pure /" and upon which Christ himself 
pronounces that blessing, — ^Blessed are the pure in heart, for 
they shall see God." 7th. That, although incipient sanctification 
is coincident with justification, the entire cleansing of the soul 
from sin is usually an after-work. 8th. That each of these pur- 
chased blessings is received by faith. 

Taking it, then, for granted, that, in each of the above points, 
we are agreed, I would inquire whether the sins of a believing 
penitent are pardoned gradually, — that is, one by one, one now, 
and another then, — or, en masse, altogether, and at once, — that is 
instantaneously. If you affirm the latter, then no further argu- 
ment is needed to prove that the blessing of " entire sanctification" 
is received instantaneously also, seeing that the instrumentality 
[faith) is the same, differing only in the object for which it is 
exercised ; the penitent believing for pardon, the justified be- 
liever for purity. I know not that I can set the matter in any 
clearer light. If you discard one or more of the above primary 
propositions, the dependent inferences must, of course, fall to the 
ground. I would, then, proceed with the discussion upon other 
principles. I should certainly be led to insist, that the doctrine 
of a gradual pardon, in behalf of a mourning penitent, is not 
found in the Bible, nor a gradual regeneration. But both, on 
conditions of repentance and faith, are promised there; and, 
therefore, if received at all, they must be instantaneous ; there- 
fore purification from indwelling sin must be instantaneous also. 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 167 

It would not require much argument to prove that those 
Methodists who do not enjoy holiness, nor are pressing after its 
attainment, either have never been converted, or have fallen from 
a justified state ; and further, that they are in peril of that 
threatening, "So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither 
cold nor hot, Iivill spue thee out of my mouth." You may con- 
sult at your leisure 1 John 3 : 1 — 3, especially the third verse. 

Surely you must profess what God has wrought in your soul. 
But let it be on proper occasions, as the Spirit may direct ; in 
what Mr. Fletcher calls a self -abasing and Christ-exalting spirit. 
But if, by exalting Christ, you may seem, in the estimation of 
others, to be exalting self, heed it not, — trouble not yourself. 
Leave that to God. Receive the reproach with patient, cheer- 
ful, adoring love. Is it not written, " Them that honor me, I will 
honor " ? In honoring the grace of your sanctifying Lord, he 
may put peculiar honor upon you, by endui?ig you with power 
so to confess his salvation, as to bring honor to his name, and 
to the doctrine of perfect love. But should it rather turn to 
your reproach, comfort your heart with these sweet words : 
"For unto you it is given" as a token of peculiar favor, " not 
only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake." Phil. 1 : 
29. Perfect love, you must remember, always says, in all sorts 
of persecutions, — 

" Lord, I adore thy gracious will, 
Through every instrument of ill, 
My Father's goodness see ; 
Accept the complicated wrong 
Of Shimei's hand, or Shimei's tongue, 
As kind rebukes from thee." 

If they despised perfection incarnate, shall you escape ? If 
they spat upon the face of your Master, shall they be disinclined 
to offer contempt to his humble and faithful servant ? If the 
head was crowned with thorns, the members need not expect a 
sprinkling of rose-buds. " As certainly as night follows day, so 
certainly will that black angel persecution follow holiness," was 
the true remark of one now with God. But who ever blushed 
that he excelled in his profession ? See to it, my dear brother, 
that you really excel ; and remember that your obligations to be 



168 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

faithful multiply in the same proportion as you draw such 
"attentions" toward yourself. Mr. Fletcher tells us that the 
purified believer has the simplicity of the gentle dove, the 
patience of the laborious ox, the courage of the magnanimous 
lion, and the wisdom of the wary serpent, without any of its 
poison; — all the above catalogue of virtues you will need, if you 
would profess and retain this blessing. Earth and hell are 
arrayed against holiness ; therefore expect the sharpest trials. 
But do not forget that holiness must have appended to it some 
distinguished privileges, as a " set-off " to its sacrifices. Some 
of these glorious privileges you already realize ; you must die to 
know the rest. 

A good man once said to an antagonist of his, "It is easier 
to raise a dust than to answer an argument." Of the former, 
there is no deficiency among the enemies of present holiness. 1 
shall use the " besom " of another to sweep away part of it ; and 
after that, may possibly lay the rest with a sprinkling of " the 
waters of the sanctuary." Travellers inform us that vegetation 
is so quick and powerful in some climates, that the seeds of 
some vegetables yield a salad in less than twenty-four hours. 
Should a northern philosopher say, impossible, and should an 
English gardener exclaim against such mushroom salad, they 
would only expose their prejudices, as do those who deny 
instantaneous justification, or mock at the possibility of the 
instantaneous destruction of indwelling sin. 

It has been asked, " Is not a total death to sin the argument 
of the apostle, in the sixth chapter to the Romans ? " Certainly. 
" Is not dying a gradual process ? " Not always. Some die in 
a moment. When I was in the city of Cork, some time since, 
a man fell from the third story of a building; — a quiver was 
all ; he was in eternity in a moment. A short time ago, in a 
town where I was holding special services, a man in good 
health, while standing at the door of a hotel, dropped down 
dead in a moment. John the Baptist, St. James, and St. Paul, 
were all beheaded ; and this was the work but of a moment. 
What, then, becomes of the gradual process, in such cases; and 
they are very numerous? But is the term gradual, in the 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 169 

sense you mean, in any case strictly correct ? The sick man 
may, indeed, be gradually approaching death; but he is not dead 
until his soul is separated from the body; and this takes place 
in a single instant of time. There is a last moment, we all 
allow, when the soul still holds its possession of the body, and 
a first moment when the body is " tenantless " of the immortal 
guest. It is clear, then, that death is instantaneous, although 
the approach to it is gradual. You must, therefore, perceive 
that the argument is good for nothing; it is, in fact, "worse 
than nothing," in reference to the question. 

The apostle, in the sixth of Romans, speaks of some, and of 
himself among the rest, who had experienced a total death to 
sin; and inquires, "How shall we that are dead to sin live any 
longer therein ? " A last moment there was, in the history of 
these believers, when they were not dead to sin. There was a 
first moment when they were as dead to sin as the body is dead 
when the soul is separated from it. " If sin cease before death," 
says Mr. Wesley, " it must, in the nature of the case, be instan- 
taneous. There must be a last moment when sin exists in the 
soul, and a first moment when it does not exist." But all this, 
you will perceive, does not preclude the gradual work. From 
the instant that the penitent sinner is justified does the gradual 
work of mortification to sin make progress in his soul. But, as 
in the case of the dying person already alluded to, he gradually 
approaches nearer and nearer the hour of deliverance ; an instant 
arrives when " cruel sin subsists no more." So true is that fine 
sentiment of some writer, — " The work of 'purification is gradual 
in preparation, but instantaneous in reception; and the more 
earnestly we long for this unspeakable blessing, the more swiftly 
the preparation increases." 

It may be said, " If there is not some unavoidable necessity 
for the gradual destruction of sin in our nature, why is it that 
God does not at once accomplish that for us which none but 
himself can ? " There is an error couched in the above ques- 
tion, which evidently embarrasses your judgment. The post- 
ponement of the destruction of sin does not arise from any 
indisposition on the part of God; nor, I may add, from any 
15 



170 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

unalterable and insurmountable law of our nature, which neces- 
sitates a gradual death to sin ; but simply from the want of 
faith on the part of the Christian himself. Faith is the condi- 
tion : "Purifying their hearts by faith" Acts 15 : 9. The 
blessing is given in the moment that he believes ; but it is 
always withheld in the absence of faith. Why this is so, is not 
now the question. I only state a scriptural fact; and one that 
never fails in Christian experience. We know that the tides of 
the ocean follow the progress of the waxing and waning moon ; 
but, by what secret springs of nature the phenomenon is pro- 
duced, or why God has suspended these fluctuations upon a 
law like that of gravitation, the wisest are unable to determine. 
Our Lord expressly declares, " What things soever ye desire 
when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have 
them.'''' Mark 11 : 24. This is directly to the point. Faith has 
never been better defined than in this glorious promise. It is 
here presented stripped of all obscurity. He that can trust in 
Christ's veracity, as he does in his divinity, can have no diffi- 
culty here in believing for a clean heart. Here we have, 1st. 
Desire, as a qualification. When this is sincere, as desire 
generally is, it brings every qualification necessary. 2d. Prayer, 
as a means. 3d. A believing reception of the things prayed 
for: "Believe that ye receive." 4th. The confidence of faith 
honored: "And ye shall have them." The promise is condi- 
tional; when the conditions are fulfilled, it is absolute. The 
hardness of the heart, or want of feeling, can be no obstacle, so 
long as the person consciously desires, fervently prays, and 
believingly persists in the confidence : "I do receive." In that 
instant the remarkable promise in the thirty-sixth chapter of the 
prophecy of Ezekiel is fulfilled in the soul: " Then will I 
sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean : from all 
your filthiness, and from all your idols, loill I cleanse you. A 
new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within 
you : and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, 
and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit 
within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall 
keep my judgments, and do them." Th* sentiment of Dr. Clarke 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 171 

is worthy of your attention: "We are to come to God for an 
instantaneous and complete purification from all sin, as for 
instantaneous pardon. In no part of the scriptures are we 
directed to seek remission of sins seriatim, — one now, and another 
then, and so on. Neither in any part are we directed to seek 
holiness by gradation. Neither a gradation pardon, nor a gra- 
dation purification, exists in the Bible." 

This is true. The penitent sinner, who is sincerely seeking 
salvation, approaches nearer and nearer to pardon ; but when 
that pardon takes place, it is instantaneous. There must, if he 
receive forgiveness at all, be a last moment when he is unfor- 
given, and a first when he is forgiven. A believer, also, so long 
as he is faithful to the grace of God, gradually dies to sin ; but 
if a total death to sin occur in this life, it must necessarily be 
instantaneous. If there was a last and a first moment with 
regard to his justification, there must be a last moment and a 
first with regard to his purification. 

When. turning over some of my papers to-day, I happened to 
find a few valuable remarks, which I copied some years ago, 
from the writings of the Rev. John Fletcher. I shall do myself 
the pleasure of copying them for your consideration, as I do not 
remember the particular page of his Works to which I could 
direct you to find them. I pray they may be rendered a bless- 
ing to you. Amen ! " For where is the absurdity of this doc- 
trine ? If the light of a candle, brought into a dark room, can 
instantly expel the darkness ; and if, upon opening the shutters 
at noon, your gloomy apartment can be instantly filled with 
meridian light, why might not the instantaneous rending of the 
veil of unbelief, or the sudden and full opening of the eye of 
faith, instantly fill your soul with the light of truth and the fire 
of love, supposing the Sun of Righteousness arise upon you 
with healing in his wings ? May not the Sanctifier descend 
upon your waiting soul as quickly as the Spirit descended upon 
your Lord at his baptism ? Did it not descend as a dove ; that 
is, with the soft motion of a dove, which swiftly shoots down 
and instantly alights ? A good man said once, 'A mote is little 
when compared to the sun, but I am far less before God.' 



172 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

Alluding to this comparison, I ask if the sun could instantly 
kindle a mote, — nay, if a burning glass can in a moment calcine 
a bone, and turn a stone to lime ; and if the dim flame of a 
candle can, in the twinkling of an eye, destroy the flying insect 
which comes within its sphere, — how unscriptural and irrational 
is it to suppose, that when God fully baptizes a soul with his 
sanctifying Spirit, and with the celestial fire of his love, he 
cannot, in an instant, destroy the man of sin, burn up the chaff 
of corruption, melt the heart of stone into a heart of flesh, and 
kindle the believing soul into pure seraphic love ! " 

The testimony of Mr. Wesley, also, to the point : " The sep- 
aration of sin from the soul is constantly preceded and followed 
by a gradual work ; but is that separation in itself instantane- 
ous, or is it not ? In examining this, let us go on step by step. 
An instantaneous change has been wrought in some believers ; 
none can deny this. Since that change, they enjoy perfect love. 
They feel this, and this alone. They ' rejoice evermore, pray 
without ceasing, and in everything give thanks.' Now, this is 
all that I mean by perfection. Therefore, these are witnesses 
of the perfection which I preach. ' But in some this change 
was not instantaneous.' They did not perceive the instant 
when it was wrought. It is often difficult to perceive the in- 
stant when a man dies ; yet there is an instant when life ceases. 
And, if ever sin ceases, there must be a last moment of its 
existence, and a first moment of our deliverance from it. ' But 
if they have this love, they will lose it.' They may, but they 
need not. And whether they do or not, they have it now ; they 
now experience what we teach. They noiv are all love ; they 
now rejoice, and pray, and praise zoithout ceasing. i However, 
sin is only suspended in them — it is not destroyed.' Call it what 
you please, they are all love to-day, and they take no thought 
for the morrow." 

These arguments drawn from analogy are good and conclu- 
sive. We are not, however, wholly confined to that source for 
our proofs that it is instantaneous. 

Not to dwell upon the important fact, that we are said, in the 
New Testament, to be purified by faith, as we are justified by 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 173 

faith, — a penitent sinner is pardoned, in a moment, by faith ; 
but a believer is " sanctified by faith ;" therefore he is purified 
in a moment. If the instrumentality be the same in both cases, 
so must the effects. It is to the commands of God, and to his 
promises, that we look for our warrant in saying, The work of 
purification must be instantaneous. A few of these will be as 
good as many. " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might" 
Deut. 6:5. " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" Lev. 19 : 
18. Both passages are prominently set forth by our Lord, in 
Matthew 22 : 37—40. " Ye shall he holy : for I the Lord your 
God am holy." Lev. 19: 2. And in the succeeding chapter, — 
" Be ye holy : for I am the Lord your God." And again in the 
following chapter, — " For I the Lord which sanctify you am 
holy." To this end is that command of our Lord, in his ser- 
mon on the mount : "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father 
which is in heaven is perfect." Matt. 5 : 48. The apostle St. 
John, perhaps, glanced at the holiness of God as necessitating 
ours, when he speaks of the blood of Jesus Christ his Son 
cleansing from all sin the soul that walks in the light, as God 
is in the light. 1 John 1 : 7. 

But can we, of our own will and power, love the Lord our 
God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our 
might, and our neighbor as ourselves ? or make ourselves per- 
fect as our Father in heaven is perfect? or purify and transform 
ourselves into the holiness of God ? Surely not. Sooner may 
the leopard change his spots, the Ethiopian his skin. Sooner 
may we cleanse hell of devils. But the commandment has 
gone forth ; ability to perform must come from some quarter. 
Who shall qualify us thus to love ? Who shall make us thus 
holy, if we ourselves cannot ? God himself will do it. The 
apostle refers the whole to him : " The very God of peace sanc- 
tify you wholly : and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and 
body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it" 1 
Thess. 5: 23, 24. But does God desire us to be as holy and 
loving as he has commanded us to be ? Yes, surely, for it is 
15* 



174 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

expressly declared, " This is the will of God, even your sane- 
tification." But is it possible we can be thus holy, and love 
God and our neighbor to such a degree ? Certainly it is ; else 
he had never commanded it. Does he expect, does he desire, 
instant obedience ? Most surely ; for, for God to command 
without the possibility of our obedience, or without any desire 
we should obey, is quite unworthy of the character of the 
supreme Governor of the universe. That one sentence, in the 
passage already quoted, is worth a volume, — " Faithful is he that 
calleth you, who also will do it." Well, then, so surely as God 
has commanded our perfect love and perfect holiness ; so surely 
as we cannot create within us such a gracious state ; so cer- 
tainly as God commands, and desires us to be holy, while none 
but himself can make us so ; so certainly it is his pleasure that 
we should obey, and enter now into this state of perfect love 
and perfect purity ; — so surely is the work of sin's destruction, 
and heart purification, instantaneous. 

But you will ask, "Why, then, is not sin immediately 
expelled from oar nature ? Why are we not instantly purified ? 
How is it that we do not at once love the Lord our God with 
all our heart ? " The reply is at hand : he has planned the 
method of our purification. We are free agents, and he has 
ordained that we shall be saved from all inward sin, as well as 
from all outward, by our own free will, consent, and cooper- 
ation. Hence we are commanded to believe that we receive, 
with a promise that we shall have appended to it. Sanctified 
by faith, purifying their hearts by faith, are declarations which 
involve acts of our own ; faith is our own act, not God's. He 
does that for us which we cannot do for ourselves ; but what me 
can do, he will have us do, or leave us to bear the consequences 
of our disobedience. Do you understand me ? I might quote 
numerous illustrations from common and every-day life ; but I 
shall leave you to supply yourself with facts which are passing 
constantly before your observation. What God requires of us, in 
order to our entire sanctification, is, it is true, very little ; to desire 
purity, to pray for purity, and to believe that we receive it while 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 175 

we are praying for it. This is all. But then the little we can 
do must be done, or what he alone can do is left undone. It 
is, perhaps, just because it is so little that he requires of us, 
and not some mighty thing, that he holds with us, upon this 
point, so firmly. 

The reader may say, "God often bestows upon faith and 
prayer more than was requested. The cases in Scripture are 
not a few, where faith only contemplated one blessing, and yet 
clusters of blessings have been granted." Very true. My own 
experience illustrates this. When I united with the Methodist 
people, I did not enjoy a satisfactory evidence that my sins were 
forgiven. This was my state during three or four years. During 
the above period, several gracious visitations of the Spirit were 
vouchsafed to my soul, and sometimes I felt happy ; yet, in con- 
sequence of my not knowing the exact time and place of my 
conversion, together with a dimness of experience or perception, 
with regard to the witness of the Spirit, which, indeed, I did not 
at all understand, even doctrinally, I entertained a doubt, which 
was sometimes harassing, with regard to the safety of my soul. 
At length I determined to set out to seek a clear evidence of my 
adoption into the family of God. I did so ; and, after a severe 
struggle, of more than a week's continuance, the Lord revealed 
himself to my soul as a pardoning God, and gave me an evi- 
dence, such as till that time I had never realized, that God, for 
Christ's sake, had blotted out all my transgressions. I was then 
enabled to rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and in every- 
thing to give thanks. ^ 

The doctrine of entire sanctijication I did not understand ; 
indeed, it was seldom a pulpit topic in that part of America, : — 
not discussed, I am sure, with convincing clearness. With the 
exception of a few conflicts, from those temptations which assail 
the most holy believer, I was generally happy. In consequence 
of being deficient in spiritual discernment, which unfitted me to 
distinguish between temptation and indwelling sin, I often imputed 
to the corruption of my nature that which arose simply from the 
effect of temptation upon my mind. Temptation is a subject of 



176 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

feeling, as well as indwelling sin.^ A temptation is not a tempt- 
ation in reality, unless it is felt. How can we know that we 
are tempted, unless we feel it? How difficult is it, frequently, 
to discriminate ! I could not distinguish the difference. Like 
a blind man judging of colors, I could not form a proper judg- 
ment of the "hues and colorings" of my mental exercises, and 
so came to erroneous conclusions respecting them. Providence, 
however, favored me with the means of obtaining clearer light, 
both as it regarded the doctrine itself, and my own experience. 
Circumstances, not necessary to mention, demanded I should 
reside in another part of the State. Here holiness of heart, and 
perfect love to God and man, were set forth with great clearness 
and power. 

My attention was now awakened, and the doctrine became 
daily more and more interesting. I then began to investigate, 
and to obtain light from every source of information. 1st. By 
searching the Scriptures, which I read throughout upon my 
knees. 2nd. Mr. Wesley's writings. 3d. The experience of 
those around me who affirmed that they enjoyed purity of heart. 
4th. By observing closely the exercises of my own mind. The 
result was, a. firm determination not to rest until I felt that the 
blood of Jesus Christ had cleansed me from all sin. I sought 
the blessing earnestly by day and by night. I fasted, prayed, 
and wept, and often entered into an agony of soul for the bless- 
ing. Months passed away without any other benefit than an 
increased spirituality of mind, accompanied by great tenderness 
of conscience. Sitting one day in a private room alone, reading 
Mr. Wesley's Plain Account of Christian Perfection, a heavenly 
calm, with a consciousness of entire purity, over-spread my heart, 
and a light like day-dawn' beamed upon my placid soul. I 
exclaimed, in sweet amaze, " Why, if this be Christian perfection, 
which Mr. Wesley describes, — if this be the true Scriptural 
view, — then I have it ; I do enjoy this very thing. The blood of 

* True, but in a very different sense. Indwelling sin implies desire strug- 
gling for gratification. Temptation in a holy heart occasions a feeling of 
aversion towards the forbidden object which it is solicited to regar4 with 
favor. —Editor. 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 177 

Jesus Christ has cleansed me ! " In a moment it occurred to my 
mind, " It is not now I have received the blessing, but at that period 
in my past history when I obtained the witness of the Spirit to 
my adoption into the family of God, — then it was, God gave me 
more than I asked, — a clean heart. This which I begin now 
to enjoy must be the testimony of the Spirit, relative to purity." 
1 Cor. 2 : 12. " Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, 
but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things 
that are freely given to us of God." 

I held the blessing for some weeks with a trembling hand, 
and confessed with a faltering tongue, in the assembly of the 
saints, what God had wrought in my soul. The more frequently 
I spoke of this great blessing, confessing it, and urging others to 
press after it, the clearer my evidence became, till I was 

" Bold to declare my hallowing God 
Halh wrought a perfect cure." 

Since then I have passed through many fiery trials and sore 
temptations; have frequently been unfaithful ; and, through want 
of watchfulness, have been necessitated to come again and again 
to the cleansing blood ; yet I have never had any reason to doubt, 
that when the Holy Ghost came to my heart as a witnessing 
Spirit, he came as a purifying Spirit also. 

Such was my own experience. Permit me to say, that, 
allowing to this experience the most extensive application of 
which the case will admit, it only goes to illustrate what I have 
elsewhere admitted, that some have obtained entire purity in the 
moment of regeneration. 

Allow me to comment a little upon my humble narrative, as, 
perhaps, I am the fittest person to remark upon the dealings of 
God with my own soul. Previously to that memorable occasion, 
when I obtained a clear sense of pardon, I had enjoyed many 
gracious visitations from on high. A defective education in 
theology had materially embarrassed my decisions respecting 
my religious state. That I was regenerated, and enjoyed the 
influence of the comforting Spirit on my heart, at the period in 
question, I cannot now reasonably doubt. But I did not under- 



178 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

stand these things. Again and again I cast away my confi- 
dence, and relapsed into a state of uncertainty. At length 
I determined upon having a particular time and place which I 
could specify in connection with the era of my conversion. There 
had been a camp-meeting a few miles off, which I attended. 
Many were saved during its continuance, and the fire spread into 
a neighboring village, near which I resided. Numbers of my 
acquaintances had been awakened, and saved from guilt and sin, 
in a remarkable manner; they were instantaneously converted. 
To my amazement, they could point to the precise time and 
place where they were born again. This troubled me. After 
various reasonings and conflicts, I formed a resolution never to 
rest until such a distinct era of this kind was realized in my 
own experience, so'tbat another revival might not again throw 
me into confusion. This I therefore sought, with strong cries 
and tears. I sought salvation as if I never had enjoyed it, cast- 
ing aside the entire of past experience, as good for nothing but 
self-abasement and deep humiliation before God. The Lord 
pitied my distressed mind, and, in great mercy to me, conde- 
scended to hear my cry, and saved me to the uttermost. " Bless- 
ings came in clusters;" more, indeed, than my ignorance or 
weakness of faith allowed me to ask; the witness of the Spirit, 
purity of heart, and perfect love, which cast out all tormenting 
fear. 1 John 4: 18. I then obtained a clear starting point for 
"glory, honor, immortality, eternal life;" nor did I alter my 
course a single point, but steered straight onward for the port of 
glory. Like a sea captain, who has had his latitude and lon- 
gitude confirmed by lunar observations, with the addition of a 
fairer and steadier breeze, and an increase of sail, and with 
greater certainty, consequently with a happier soul, I pursued 
my voyage to the skies. 

Other objections to this doctrine of instantaneous sanctifica- 
tion have been faithfully met and replied to by Mr. Fletcher. 
" Should you ask how many baptisms, or effusions of the sancti- 
fying Spirit, are necessary to cleanse a believer from all sin, I 
reply, that the effect of a sanctifying truth depending upon the 
ardor of the faith by which that truth is embraced, and upon 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 179 

the power of the Spirit with which it is applied, I should betray a 
want of modesty, if I brought the operations of the Holy Ghost, 
and the energy of faith, under a rule which is not expressly laid 
down in the Scriptures. If you ask your physician how many 
doses of physic you must take before all the crudities of your 
stomach can be carried off, and your appetite perfectly restored, 
he would probably answer you, that this depends upon the nature 
of those crudities, the strength of the medicine, and the manner 
in which your constitution will allow it to operate ; and that, in 
general, you must repeat the dose, as you can bear, till the 
remedy has fully answered the desired end. I return a similar 
answer : If one powerful baptism of the Spirit seals you unto 
the day of redemption, and cleanses you from all (moral) filthiness, 
so much the better. If two, or more, are necessary, the Lord can 
repeat them ; his arm is not shortened that it cannot save ; nor is 
his promise of the Spirit stinted. He says, in general, ' Whoso- 
ever zvill, let him take of the ivater of life freely.'' ' If ye, being 
evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much 
more will your Heavenly Father ' [who is goodness itself] ' give 
his Holy'' [sanctifying] ' Spirit to them that ask him! 1 I may, 
however, venture to say, in general, that, before we can rank 
among perfect Christians, we must receive so much of the truth 
and Spirit of Christ by faith, as to have the pure love of God 
and man shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost given 
unto us; and to be filled with the meek and lowly mind which 
was in Christ. And if one outpouring of the Spirit, one bright 
manifestation of the sanctifying truth, so empties us of self as 
to fill us with the mind of Christ, and with pure love, we are 
undoubtedly Christians in the full sense of the word." 

In the above,' you have found, I trust, full and satisfactory 
answers to your questions. Proceed a little further, and see 
how this judicious divine meets your other objections: "From 
my soul, I therefore subscribe to the answer which a great divine 
makes to the following objection : ' But some who are newly 
justified do come up to this (Christian perfection) ; what, then, 
will you say to these ? ' Mr. Wesley replies, with great pro- 
priety, ' If they really do, I will say they are sanctified, saved 



180 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

from all sin in that moment ; and that they need never lose what 
God has given them, or feel sin any more. But, certainly, this 
is an exempt case. It is otherwise with the generality of those 
who are justified. They feel in themselves, more or less, pride, 
anger, self-will, and a heart bent to backsliding. And till they 
have gradually mortified these, they are not fully renewed in 
love. God usually gives a considerable time for men to receive 
light, to grow in grace, to do and suffer his will, before they are 
either justified or sanctified. But he does not invariably adhere 
to this. Sometimes he cuts short his work. He does the work 
of many years in a few weeks ; perhaps in a week, a day, an 
hour. He justifies and sanctifies both those who have done or 
suffered nothing, and who have not had time for a gradual 
growth, either in light or grace. And may he not do what he 
will with his own? Is thine eye evil because he is good? It 
need not therefore be proved by forty texts of Scripture, either 
that most men are perfected in love at last, or that there is a 
gradual work of God in the soul ; and that, generally speaking, 
it is a long time, even many years, before sin is destroyed. All 
this we know ; but we know, likewise, that God may, with man's 
good leave ! cut short his work in whatever degree he pleases, 
and do the work of many years in a moment. He does so in 
many instances. And yet there is a gradual work, both before 
and after that moment. So that one may affirm the work is 
gradual, — another, it is instantaneous, — without any manner 
of contradiction.'" 

Were I to add more, it would, perhaps, lessen the impression 
which the above sentiments are so well calculated to make. May 
God kindle the reader's " spark of grace" to a flame, and aug- 
ment his " drop of love" to a river, — an ocean ! 



CHAPTEE II. 

ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION A DISTINCT BLESSING. 

So far as I am acquainted with the Methodist people, both in 
these kingdoms and in America, they do hold entire sanctifica- 
tion to be an after work, and not usually given in the same 
moment with justification. That sanctification begins when we 
are justified, they allow; but that the Holy Ghost always 
cleanses the soul from all sin " in the moment of the new birth," 
they do not admit. 

You inquire, "Why do you make such broad distinctions 
between justification and sanctification ? " I answer, because 
the Scriptures make such distinctions. The terms are used with 
a distinct meaning, and not as mere synonyms. The one 
implies what God does for us ; the other, what he works in us. 
Pardon of sin is the sense of the first; purification from all sin, 
the meaning, in full, of the latter. You say, " Are we not 
regenerated the moment we are justified ? and what is regene- 
ration but making a new creature in Christ Jesus ; old things 
having passed away, and all things become new ? 2 Cor. 5 : 17. 
And is this anything short of sanctification ? Are we not, 
therefore, cleansed from all sin when we are justified ? " To 
this I reply, If you " aim at being critical," you must not con- 
found regeneration with justification, any more than with sanc- 
tification. Justification is to account just, and implies, in theol- 
ogy, pardon and deliverance from condemnation, through faith in 
the merits of Christ ; regeneration is to renew, or make new, and 
implies, the " new birth," or a " new creature," as expressed by 
our Lord and St. Paul. 

That we are regenerated the moment we are justified is 
admitted : but, you will readily perceive, one imports an act of 
16 



182 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

God's sovereign mercy towards the sinner ; the other, a work 
wrought by God in the sinner. Each, then, has its distinct 
meaning and application. 

" But," you inquire, "will you persuade me that sanctification 
can be wanting when we are thus regenerated ? " No, no more 
than I would attempt to " persuade " you that day has not 
begun, although the night has departed. But, surely, I might 
be allowed the opinion, without contradicting my own admission, 
that there is a great difference between morning-dawn and sun- 
rise, — between sunrise and the heat and brilliancy of noon-day. 
Sanctification, I allow, is inseparably connected with justifica- 
tion and regeneration ; it exists with these as the light of morn- 
ing coexists with day ; but entire sanctification is usually an 
after-work, and differs from its commencement in regeneration 
as sunrise differs from the morning dawn, — as the blaze and glory 
of noon differ from sunrise. In this respect, then, we may say, 
with the inspired penman, " The path of the just is as the shining 
light, which shineth more and more unto the 'perfect day." 

You add : " Indeed, I heard you myself make some admis- 
sions, in chapel, in favor of my sentiments." I did so; 

and show me a person who, since his regeneration, has rejoiced 
evermore, prayed ivithout ceasing, giving thanks to God for every- 
thing; who has always, since then, enjoyed that " perfect love 
which casteth out fear ;" then I should have no hesitancy in sup- 
posing that such an one was sanctified entirely throughout soul, 
body, and spirit, in the moment of his regeneration ; but I would 
exhort him to press after higher degrees both of holiness and 
love ; assuring him that this is his privilege, not only through 
time, but throughout eternity. 

But plain matter of fact shows that it is not thus with the 
vast majority of Christians; — even those who are really such; 
— of whose conversion we have no doubt. How is it with 
yourself? Has the blood of Christ cleansed you from all sin? 
Does it now cleanse you ? Do you doubt ? But do you enter- 
tain any doubts whether you are now in a state of regeneration ? 
If not, then, it is clear, you yourself possess the one without the 
other, — regeneration, without entire sanctification. Are you 



ENTIRE SANCT1FICATI0N A DISTINCT BLESSING. 183 

sure this was not the case " in the moment" of your "regenera- 
tion " ? This, I am aware, is reducing the matter down to a 
question of personal experience; nor will you, I hope, object to 
this ; because you are too well acquainted with these deep things 
of God to suppose they are to be considered entirely apart from, 
or independent of, Christian experience. 

You inquire, " Can you give me any satisfactory reason why 
w T e are not all cleansed from all sin, the moment we are justi- 
fied ? " I know not that I can. I only appeal to " plain matter 
of fact." The causes may be various, as are the education and 
temperament of men. Much may depend upon the degree of 
penitential sorrow or faith exercised by the believing penitent. 

You go on : " Read, my brother, Acts 4 : 31 — 33, and tell me 
whether you doubt these happy primitive believers were made 
perfect in love just then. Do you. pause ? Why not, then, at 
once admit that entire sanctification coexists with justification ? 
If in their case, why should it not be thus with all new con- 
verts ? " 

I dare not quibble, else I would perplex your questions by 
demanding proof. I prefer, however, to reply : I have already 
admitted, in part, what you claim ; — that it is not improbable 
some new converts (and I think I have known some myself) 
are entirely cleansed from sin in the moment of justification. 
But I must beg leave to assert, that the experience of a vast 
number of new converts, as well as that of old Christians, goes 
to show that this is not God's usual method. He pardons and 
regenerates all who truly repent, and unfeignedly believe the 
Gospel ; afterwards, he reveals unto them the remaining corrup- 
tions of their nature ; when, after feeling a painful conviction of 
want of conformity to God, deep humiliation for the same, and 
earnest desires after purity, they are enabled, at length, to put 
forth that faith by which the apostle says we are purified, and 
cleansed from all unrighteousness. 

As it respects those believers of the primitive church to which 
you have directed my attention, I allow, with Mr. Fletcher, that 
" it is not improbable that God, to open the dispensation of the 
Spirit in a manner which might fix the attention of all ages 



184 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

upon its importance and glory, permitted the whole body of 
believers to take an extraordinary turn into the Canaan of per- 
fect love, and to show the world the admirable fruit which grows 
there ; as the spies sent by Joshua took a turn into the good 
land of promise before they were settled in it, and brought from 
thence the bunch of grapes which astonished and spirited up the 
Israelites who had not yet crossed Jordan." Now, while I fully 
agree with the above admissions of this eminent divine, I also 
heartily concur with other qualifying sentiments, which stand 
connected with the same passage: "It may be asked here, 
whether the multitude of them that believed, in those happy days, 
were all perfect in love. I answer, that, if pure love had cast 
out all selfishness and sinful fear from their hearts, they were 
undoubtedly made perfect in love ; but, as God does not usually 
remove the plague of indwelling sin till it has been discovered 
and lamented, — and, as we find in the two next chapters an 
account of Ananias and his wife, and of the partiality and selfish 
murmuring of some believers, — it seems that those chiefly who 
before were strong in the grace of their dispensation arose then 
into sinless fathers ; and that the first love of other believers was 
so bright and powerful, for a time, that little. children had, or 
seemed to have, the strength of young men, and young men the 
grace of fathers. And, in this case, the account which St. 
Luke gives of the primitive believers ought to be taken with 
some restriction. Thus, while many of them were perfect in 
love, many might have the imperfection of their love only cov- 
ered over with a land-flood of peace and joy in believing. And, 
in this case, what is said of their being of one heart and mind, 
and of having all things in common, &c, and great grace resting 
upon them all, may only mean, that the harmony of love had 
not yet been broken, and that none had yet betrayed any of that 
uncharitableness for which Christians, in after times, became so 
conspicuous." 

You should also remember, that the memorable occasion to 
which you have directed my attention was the second great 
outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The first is recorded in the 
second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles ; — all who were in 






ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION A DISTINCT BLESSING. 1S5 

that upper room were filled with the Holy Ghost, and immedi- 
ately afterwards thousands were awakened and converted. Now, 
it is not stated that these were all " filled with the Holy Ghost." 
But, shortly after, Peter and John were going up to the temple 
to pray. Peter, beholding a cripple sitting at the gate that was 
called Beautiful, turned and healed him. The multitude, see- 
ing this, ran together; — all were astonished to behold the man 
upon whom the miracle had been wrought. Peter seized this 
opportunity of honoring his Lord, and preached unto them Jesus. 
The great power of God was present, and about five thousand 
persons "believed;" — that is, were justified through faith in 
Christ. But it is not stated they were, at that time, filled with 
the Holy Ghost ; that came as a second blessing, quite distin- 
guishable from the first. The next day they assembled together 
to hear an account of Peter's trial and acquittal. At the conclu- 
sion of the address of Peter and his companions, the entire 
church broke forth into thanksgiving and prayer. Suddenly 
" the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and 
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost ;" — a proof they were 
not all filled before. A large number of the eight thousand con- 
verts saved since the hour of the first outpouring of the Spirit, 
in the upper room, on the day of Pentecost, were now made per- 
fect in love, and filled with God. 

The following passage is worthy of note : " Wherefore, laying 
aside all malice, and all guile, and all hypocrisies, and envies, 
and all evil-speakings, as new-born babes, desire the sincere milk 
of the word, that ye may grow thereby." Here, you will observe, 
the apostle calls these persons "new-born babes;" — persons 
lately " born of God." These he exhorts to lay aside all malice, 
guile, hypocrisies, envies, and evil-speakings. Now, they could not 
lay aside what they did not possess. The elements of all these 
sinful dispositions existed, it would seem, in their hearts, and 
awaited a fit occasion to develop themselves. Yet he calls these 
babes new-born ; — really regenerated persons ! St. Paul, when 
writing to a similar class of persons, calls them " babes in Christ" 
If this means anything, it surely implies that they were regen- 
erate persons; yet these, it appears, were, in some degree, " car- 
16* 



186 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

nal;" — that is, they were not wholly cleansed from sin. Though 
they were " babes in Christ" yet the remains of the carnal mind 
had not been entirely destroyed. They had yet in their hearts 
strong propensities to "strifes and divisions" and manifested 
them, it is to be feared, too strongly in their outward conduct. 
But these evils were held in so much restraint, that, in the opin- 
ion of an inspired apostle, these persons had not forfeited their 
title to being " babes in Christ" I think 1 Thessalonians 5 : 
23 will set the matter in a yet clearer light : " And the very God 
of peace sanctify you wholly ; and I pray God your whole spirit 
and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our 
Lord Jesus Christ." Does not this imply, 1st. That they were 
then in the enjoyment of a justified state ? Without justifica- 
tion, you are aware, there can be neither regeneration nor sanc- 
tification ; — no, not even in part. 2nd. That sanctification had 
commenced in their souls ? This is clear, as he prays for its 
completion : " The very God of peace sanctify you wholly;" — 
you are yet but sanctified in part ; — in such a state, perhaps, 
as Mr. Fletcher supposes many of the Christian converts to have 
been shortly after the day of Pentecost : — " Many might have 
had the imperfection of their nature covered over by a land-flood 
of peace and joy in believing." These Thessalonian converts, 
then, were but partly sanctified; — but "new-born babes." He 
prays that they might be sanctified wholly ; and that their " whole 
spirit and soul and body" might "be preserved blameless unto 
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." And adds, " Faithful 
is he that calleth you, who also will do it." As much as to say, 
" This great work has not been carried to the highest state of 
perfection in your soul ; but it is the intention of God to perfect, 
in your soul, body, and spirit, the work which he has so gra- 
ciously begun." Consider also 2 Corinthians 7: 1. " Havi?ig 
therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves 
from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in 
the fear of God ." 

"Dearly beloved," — this is tender; it shows, also, how confi- 
dent the apostle was that they were in the enjoyment of the 
grace of God. " Having these promises," such as those men- 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION A DISTINCT BLESSING. 187 

tioned in the three verses which conclude the previous chapter, 
" Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and 
spirit ; " a state not at all consistent with entire holiness ; — 
inward defilement, or propensities, which, if yielded to, would 
defile the spirit, and pollute the body. " Perfecting holiness in 
the fear of 'God ;" having obtained that holiness without which 
no man can see the Lord, endeavor to perfect it ; that is, to 
carry it forward to as high a degree of perfection as it is possible 
to arrive at while in the body. 

I consider these few passages of the word of God as good and 
convincing as many. They establish a plain doctrine of Chris- 
tian experience; and the Bible does not contradict itself. 

A passage in the sermon of the Rev. Richard Watson, on 
Romans 8 : 16, beautifully true, and well expressed, is often 
brought forward by those who deny entire sanctification to be an 
after-work : but it does not prove their point ; neither was it his 
intention, I am persuaded, to convey any such meaning. He 
designed to guard us against false impressions, as substitutes for 
the "witness of the Spirit" and not to teach that the believing 
penitent is always wholly sanctified in the moment of justifica- 
tion. He says : " Where the Spirit of God dwells, as the Spirit 
of adoption, he dwells as the great author of regeneration, as the 
source of all holy principles and feelings ; — our justification and 
sanctification are thus inseparable. The Spirit of God dwells 
witb all his graces, when he dwells at all. 

c He sheds abroad a Saviour's love, 
And this enkindles ours ! ' 

" He enables us to love God, by showing that God loves us; 
and thus, when he comes to the heart of a believer, as a wit- 
nessing and comforting Spirit, he comes as the Spirit of holi- 
ness/' 

That you have misapprehended his meaning is evident, as the 
following quotation from the works of this great divine will 
show : " That a distinction exists between a regenerate state 
and a state of entire holiness, will be generally allowed. Regen- 
eration, we have seen, is concomitant with justification; but the 



188 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

apostles, in addressing the body of believers in the Christian 
church, to whom they wrote their epistles, set before them, 
both in the prayers they offered on their behalf, and in the 
exhortations they administer, a still higher degree of deliver- 
ance from sin, as well as a higher growth in Christian virtues. 
Two passages only need be quoted to prove this : 1 Thessaloni- 
ans 5 : 23 ; 2 Corinthians 7 : 1." 

Your objections to this doctrine, dear reader, only prove that 
you yourself do not enjoy purity of heart. Yet you make 
admissions which are of no small importance to my argument. 
You allow that the blood of Christ has not cleansed you from 
all sin ; that, neither at the time of your conversion nor since, 
have you been perfectly conscious of such a state of soul ; and 
yet, you " have no doubt that God, for Christ's sake, has par- 
doned all your sins," and that your "present state is that of 
justification." Surely, my brother, were you to "reason from 
analogy" till doomsday, the voice of your own experience must 
ever cry down your " reasonings," even from their " loftiest cli- 
maxes," to listen to its convincing testimony. 

You enjoy, then, a sense of pardon and regeneration without 
entire sanctification; why may it not be wanting in the moment 
of regeneration ? 

Consider the following passages : " Being justified by faith" 
(Romans 5 : 1.) "Purifying their hearts by faith" (Acts 15: 
9.) Observe, here are two distinct blessings recognized, pardon 
and purity ; both of which are obtained by faith, — the only 
medium of salvation revealed in the New Testament. In that 
memorable prayer of our Lord, in John 17, we ha\'e those 
words : " Sanctify them through thy truth : thy ivord is truth." 
But afterwards, to Saul of Tarsus, he said : " Sanctified by faith 
that is in me." We are sanctified, then, through the truth ; that 
is, by a belief q{ the truth; — for, until a man believe a state of 
entire sanctification attainable, he cannot, it is reasonable to 
suppose, obtain such a great salvation; — by a belief of the 
truth ; — truth apprehended and appropriated by faith. Hence 
our Saviour says : " Therefore I say unto you, tohat things soever 
ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION A DISTINCT BLESSING. 189 

have them." Mark 11 : 24. There is no justification but by 
faith, — no sanctification or purity without faith. Faith is not a 
passive, but an active, state of the mind. Active faith is always 
effectual. When genuine, it is always distinct, and put forth for 
some particular object. Bartimeus cried, " Jesus, thou Son of 
David, have mercy on me ! " Eyesight was what he wanted, 
and his faith was fixed upon Christ for the gift. " Lord, that I 
may receive my sight." 

" Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight — thy faith hath 
saved thee ; and immediately he received his sight, and followed 
him, glorifying God." 

The leper, who fell down and worshipped Jesus, had faith for 
a particular blessing — to be cleansed from his leprosy : "Lord, 
if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." 

"I will, be thou clean" was the voice of mercy which met the 
request of faith. 

The woman who had an issue of blood twelve years came 
behind him, saying, " If I may but touch his garment, I shall be 
whole." This was faith, and for that distinct blessing she 
reached out her trembling hand ; but so jostled and pressed 
was that hand by the crowd, she could but just touch the 
hem of his garment. It was enough — she was healed in a 
moment ; and the approving voice of her Lord fell upon her ear, 
and quieted all her agitations : " Daughter, be of good comfort ; 
thy faith hath made thee whole." A favorite question of our 
Lord, to those who desired any distinguished mercy, was, "Be- 
lieve ye that I am able to do this ? " — not everything that you 
can think of, for that is not essential to the cure ; but whether I 
am able to do this. " If 'thou canst believe, all things are pos- 
sible to him that believeth," was another saying of our Lord. A 
particular faith for a particular blessing was what Christ re- 
quired, and that which he honored. This sort of faith, when 
exercised for justification or sanctification, is denominated by the 
apostle saving faith, or the faith through which we are saved. 
Ephes. 2 : 8. Pardon and 'purity are two distinct things, for the 
obtaining of which, it would appear, there are two distinct acts 
of faith required. In other words, faith is the condition; and 



190 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

where the condition is not complied with, the blessing is with- 
held. More might be said, but I know not that I could set this 
matter in a clearer light ; and there is a danger, you know, of 
darkening counsel by a multitude of words. Please to observe 
further : The state of mind which usually accompanies that 
faith which obtains pardon, differs widely from those feelings 
which generally attend purifying faith. The contrast, in fact, 
is as great as what is observable in those two fine hymns in the 
Wesleyan Hymn Book : — 

" Father, — if I may call thee so, — 
Regard my fearful heart's desire ; 
Remove this load of guilty woe, 
Nor let me in my sins expire ! 

t( I tremble lest the wrath divine, 

Which bruises now my sinful soul, 
Should bruise this wretched soul of mine 
Long as eternal ages roll. 

" To thee my last distress I bring: 

The heightened fear of death I find : 
The tyrant, brandishing his sting, 
Appears, and hell is close behind! 

" I deprecate that death alone, 

That endless banishment from thee ! 
O save, and give me to thy Son, 

Who trembled, wept, and bled for me ! " 



Come, Holy Ghost, all-quickening fire, 
Come, and in me delight to rest ; 

Drawn by the lure of strong desire, 
O come and consecrate my breast ! 

The temple of my soul prepare, 

And fix thy sacred presence there ! 

If now thy influence I feel, 
If now in thee begin to live, 

Still to my heart thyself reveal ; 
Give me thyself, forever give ; 

A point my good, a drop my store, 

Eager I ask, I pant for more. 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION A DISTINCT BLESSING. 191 

" Eager for thee I ask and pant ; 
So strong the principle divine, 
Carries me out with sweet constraint. 
Till all my hallowed soul is thine ; 
Plunged in the Godhead's deepest sea, 
And lost in thine immensity." 

A sense of the vengeance due to sin, and an intense desire 
for forgiveness, are, as you will perceive, the predominant feel- 
ings of the one ; a consciousness of present pardon, attended by 
an eager desire for purity, prevails with the other. The faijh 
of the former looks towards the Lamb for pardoning mercy, 
while that of the latter longs for perfect purity, and grasps at 
all the fulness of God. 

Many are the anxieties and sorrows which distract the peni- 
tent sinner. In most cases, it is quite as much as he can do to 
rely by faith upon the merits of Christ for pardon. Faith, 
exercised for purity, is much less embarrassed, in the case of one 
seeking full salvation. Hence, it is not unreasonable to sup- 
pose, that if the faith by which we are purified requires a dis- 
tinct exercise of the mind, it is therefore not confounded with 
the faith which obtains pardon, but is rather an after effort. 
Hence, perfect purity is not usually given with justification. 
If salvation from indwelling sin becomes the happy experience 
of any one, he is bound, I should suppose, to profess it, on all 
proper occasions. But if the blessing has been received as dis- 
tinct and separate from justification, he is enabled to do so with 
greater satisfaction, both to himself and others. " If jewels," 
says an old divine, " are bundled up together, their riches and 
worth are hid ; they must be viewed and considered one by one, — 
then their value will appear." And, I may add, not unfrequently 
the history of each jewel is particularly interesting. 

I have met with very few (and I have conversed with many 
thousands of Christians, on both sides of the Atlantic) who pro- 
fessed to have received entire holiness in the same moment with 
justification, or regeneration. There is nothing more common 
than to meet with persons who profess to enjoy a sense of jus- 
tification, consequently regeneration, who candidly admit they 
do not enjoy purity, or entire sanctification. They freely admit 



192 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

that, though sin has not dominion over them, yet its existence 
in the heart is a matter of humiliating and sorrowful conscious- 
ness. To retain perfect purity requires a continual acting of 
faith upon the leading promises of the Gospel. Those who are 
faithful to justifying grace have to apply to the cleansing blood 
more frequently than in cases where only a fear of having 
sinned impels the soul to the blood of sprinkling for pardon. 
The temptations to doubt concerning one's purity are much 
more intricate and perplexing than those regarding the forgive- 
ness of sins. The most holy and devoted persons are more fre- 
quently compelled to approach the cleansing blood by faith, — 
for the evidence of purity, than for that of pardon. Such an 
approach is made through the exercise of a distinct and naked 
faith, in a distinct and naked promise ; — such as, " What things 
soever ye desire ivhen ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye 
shall have them. All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, 
believing, ye shall receixe" By a naked faith, I mean, with Mr. 
Fletcher, "a faith independe?it of all feelings, in a naked prom- 
ise; — bringing nothing with you but a careless, distracted, 
tossed, hardened heart, — just such a heart as you have got 
now; " — not unlike what Lady Maxwell describes : " I have 
often acted faith for sanctification," said that holy woman, "in 
the absence of all feeling, and it has always diffused an inde- 
scribable sweetness through my soul." Those, I think, who 
have been brought to seek this blessing after having been 
made partakers of pardoning love, and have obtained it by a 
separate act of faith, find it, generally, easier to believe, and 
have a greater aptitude to exercise this particular faith, than 
those who received it with regeneration. Yet, why you should 
insist upon instantaneous purity, in the moment of regeneration, 
and deny it to the sincere adult believer, I cannot divine. I fear 
your mind is greatly confused upon this subject. Endeavor, my 
dear friend, to get clear and consistent views upon the subject. 

I will not conceal the pleasure I feel, because I believe you 
are earnestly panting ahevfull conformity to God. If, however, 
you continue to entertain the opinion that the separation of sin 
from the soul is a gradual, not an instantaneous work, it will 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION A DISTINCT BLESSING. 193 

not only perplex your mind, but much retard the work of God 
in your soul. " Constant experience shows," says Mr. Wesley, 
" the more earnestly believers expect this, the more swiftly and 
steadily does the gradual work of God go on in their souls ; the 
more watchful they are against all sin; the more careful they are 
to grow in grace, and the more punctual their attendance on all 
the ordinances of God ; — whereas, just the contrary effects are 
observed whenever this expectation ceases. They are saved by 
hope, — by hope of a total change, with a gradually increasing 
salvation. Destroy this hope, and the salvation stands still, or, 
rather, decreases daily. Therefore, whoever will advance the 
gradual change in believers, should insist upon the instantaneous 
also." 

I remember reading another passage in the writings of this 
eminent divine, which I think may be of use to you at this 
juncture of your Christian experience : " Does God work this 
great work in the soul gradually or instantaneously ? Perhaps 
it may be gradually wrought in some. I mean in this sense : 
— they do not advert to the particular moment wherein sin 
ceased to be, but it is infinitely desirable, were it the will of 
God, that it should be instantaneously; that the Lord should 
destroy sin by the breath of his mouth, in a moment, in the 
twinkling of an eye. And so he generally does, — a plain fact, 
of which there is evidence enough to satisfy any unprejudiced 
person. Thou therefore look for it every moment, in the way 
above described ; in all good ' works, whereunto thou art cre- 
ated anew in Christ Jesus.' There is no danger; you can be no 
worse, if you are no better, for that expectation ; for, were you 
to be disappointed of your hope, still you lose nothing. But 
you shall not be disappointed of your hope ; it will come, and 
will not tarry. Look for it every day, every hour, every mo- 
ment. Why not this hour — this moment ? Certainly you 
may look for it now, if you believe it is by faith. And by this 
token you may surely know whether you seek it by faith or by 
works. If by works, you want something to be done first, before 
you are sanctified. You think, I must first be or do thus or . 
thus. Then you are seeking it by works unto this day. If you 
17 



194 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

seek it by faith, you expect it as you are ; and if as you are, 
then expect it now. It is of importance to observe that there 
is an inseparable connection between these three points, — expect 
it by faith, expect it as you are, and expect it now. To deny 
one, is to deny them all. To allow one, is to allow them all. 
Do you believe we are sanctified by faith ? Be true to your 
principle, and look for the blessing just as you are, neither better 
nor worse ; as a poor sinner that has still nothing to pay, nothing 
to plead, but Christ died. And if you look for it as you are, then 
expect it now ; stay for nothing. Why should you ? Christ is 
ready ; and he is all you want. He is waiting for you ; he is 
at the door. Let your inmost soul cry out, — 

{ Come in, come in, thou heavenly guest r 
Nor hence again remove ; 
But sup with me, and let the feast 
Be everlasting love.' " 

You believe, and very properly too, that we are pardoned in a 
moment ; because, if a sinner is forgiven before death, it must 
be " in a moment : " or, if I may use the term to which you 
object, " instantaneous : " there must, in the nature of the case, 
be a last moment when he is still unpardoned, and a first mo- 
ment when he is pardoned. But we claim the same for the 
believer, with regard to the instantaneous work of sanctiflcation. 
The argument is short : If sin cease before death (and a mo- 
ment after would be too late), then it is clear it must cease instant- 
aneously. There must be a last and a first moment, as in the 
case of a justified person. This is bringing the matter within a 
very narrow compass, as most controversial points should be, 
but it is most plain. The approach to holiness may, indeed, be 
gradual, but its establishment in the soul must take place in a 
moment, whether in the article of death, or years previously to 
that period. If God can cleanse the soul a moment before 
death, why not an hour, a month, a year, or fifty years ? That 
we are justified by faith, and sanctified by faith, you have 
already seen. If, then, the instrumentality be the same, why 
not the effects ? If we are pardoned by faith, and in a moment, 
why not purified by faith in a moment? 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION A DISTINCT BLESSING. 195 

Perhaps the reader asks, " How do you account for the fact 
that so few of the Methodists profess to receive, or enjoy, the 
blessing of entire sauctificalion ? " I cannot answer this better 
than in the words of Mr. Fletcher : " 1st. Because they do not 
see the need of it ; because they still hug some accursed thing ; 
or because the burden of indwelling sin is not yet become intol- 
erable. They make shift to bear it, as they do the toothache, 
when they are still loth to have a rotten tooth pulled out. 2d. 
If they are truly willing to be made clean, they do not yet 
believe that the Lord both can and will make them clean, or that 
now is the day of this saltation. And, as faith inherits the promises 
of God, it is no wonder if their unbelief misses this portion of 
their inheritance. 3d. If they have some faith in the promise 
that the Lord can and will circumcise their hearts, that they 
may love him with all their hearts, yet it is not the kind or 
degree of faith which makes them willing to sell all, to deny 
themselves, faithfully to use the inferior talent, and to continue 
instant in prayer for this very blessing. 4th. Frequently, 
also, they will receive God's blessing in their own preconceived 
method, and not in God's appointed way. Hence God suspends 
the operation of his sanctifying Spirit, till they humbly confess 
their obstinacy and false wisdom, as well as their unbelief, and 
want of perfect love. It may be with the root of sin as with its 
fruit ; some souls parley many years before they can be per- 
suaded to give up all their outward sins, and others part with 
them instantaneously. You may compare the former to those 
besieged towns which make a long resistance, and the latter 
resemble those fortresses which are surprised and carried by a 
storm." Read the above over and over again ; perhaps the 
specifications may include some one or more of your own hin- 
drances. 

In relation to the depth of conviction necessary to entire sanc- 
tification, I know of no particular standard laid down in the 
Scriptures, as to " the depth of our convictions of indwelling sin, 
in order to obtain deliverance from it." One thing only is recog- 
nized in the New Testament, as absolutely necessary for the 
attainment of purity, — and that is faith : " Purifying their 



196 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

hearts by *e Arm." Acts 15:9. " Sanctified by i aith." Acts 
16 : 18. If there be time and opportunity, Mr. Wesley thinks 
there may be many " preparatory feelings ; " otherwise, God 
may sanctify without them. Faith is the only revealed condi- 
tion ; but that must be sincere. Faith lays hold of the promises 
of God, and puts undoubting confidence in his veracity. Christ 
has said, " What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe 
that ye receive them, and ye shall have them" Mark 11 : 24. 
Observe, " desire ;" this is an indispensable condition, and gen- 
uine faith certainly implies it; without it, the mind is dead and 
motionless, and in this state saving faith can have no existence. 
Desire, as some one has said, is to the soul as spurs to the horse, 
as sails to the ship. Desires are, among all classes of men, the 
sails of the mind, by which they are carried forward to that 
which they like best. When " desire " is sincere, it includes 
much, — all, in fact, that a sanctifying God requires. It 
is like thunder and rain, it always comes in clouds, — clouds of 
preparation. If you have desire, you are prepared ; leave all 
the rest to the Holy Spirit ; — I mean as to the " depth, painful- 
ness, softness, and earnestness" of your heart-convictions. These 
may not come at your bidding ; they are dependent upon number- 
less circumstances ; and frequently they are quite independent 
of anything of the kind, but are wrought by the same Spirit, 
immediately and independently, as it pleases him. Only show 
the sincerity of that " desire," by renouncing and forsaking 
everything that you know to be contrary to purity. For, be 
assured, the Holy Ghost never sanctifies a heart that gives indul- 
gence to sin. To this desire, in accordance with the promise, 
add prayer, — whatever " ye desire when ye pray." To this add 
faith; that is, " believe that ye receive ; a better definition of 
sanctifying faith you could not find. Then, he who has prom- 
ised, and who cannot lie, will fulfil the "desire" of your heart, 
and will honor your faith, — "and ye shall have." Christ will 
honor his own veracity, and will stand by it, to the very uttermost 
claims of faith, — that is, till you are cleansed from all sin, and 
filled with all the fulness of God. Never forget that faith is the 
only absolute condition of obtaining all that Christ purchased for 
you on Calvary ; and that you may now be saved to the uttermost. 



CHAPTEE III. 

REVIVAL PREACHING. 

Ma^y desire a revival, but they are unwilling to labor for it. 
I know an animal that is very fond of fish, but would rather do 
without them than wet her feet. 

I remember reading of a certain man, who, when viewing the 
vast army of Antiochus, said, " There are many men, but few 
soldiers ; many mouths, but few hands ; " " many mouths," — to 
eat, — to speak well, — to boast ; " but few hands," — to grasp 
the sword, — to fight, — to conquer ! Many that could talk dar- 
ingly, but few to fight bravely. Words will not break bones, 
like swords. It is written, " The word of God is quick, and 
powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even 
to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and 
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the 
heart." Heb. 4 : 12. But why is it that such effects do not 
always accompany it ? Why is it that this sword with two 
edges, framed so that it may cut every way that the preacher 
may choose to turn it, does not pierce to the dividing asunder 
of soul and spirit? Is this sword, think you, wielded usually 
with an energy sufficient to do such execution upon souls? It 
requires a skilful hand to divide the joints at a single stroke, or 
by repeated strokes ; and a decided aim to break or perforate the 
bones so as to reach the marrow. The hardest parts of a sinner 
are as powerless to resist this sharp sword as the softest ; and it 
penetrates into the secret recesses of the heart, — into the very 
citadel of sin, and slays it there with irresistible power. 

This is the sort of preaching you require in England. You 
will never have a general revival over the kingdom, till the 
17* 



198 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

preachers are brought universally to wield the Gospel sword 
thus. "Many," said a good man, "flourish, like fencers, beat- 
ing only the air; but few fight in good earnest this fight of 
faith." It was not "after such a fashion" St. Paul wielded 
those spiritual weapons, which he joyfully declares were 
" mighty through God to the pulling down of strong-holds ; cast- 
ing down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself 
against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every 
ihought " (of the sinner) "to the obedience of Christ." 2 Cor. 
10 : 4, 5. Unless such weapons are " levelled" with precision, and 
applied with determination, they will make but little impression 
upon the strong-holds of Satan. 

A few days since, I received a letter from an aged servant of 
God in Ireland, — one well acquainted with revivals, and the 
sort of preaching calculated, or not, to promote a revival. Hear 
him : — " We go through blank motions here sometimes ; but we 
only use powder; this, you know, will do no execution. O, 
what might not be done, if we would do it ! May the good Lord 
pity Ireland, and raise up more who will prove their love to 
souls, by doing all in their power to save them ! " That senti- 
ment of one now with God is also mournfully true : " A man is 
soon enlisted, but he is not soon made a soldier. He is easily 
put into the ranks, to make a show there ; but he is not so 
easily brought to do the duties of the ranks. We are too much 
like an army of Asiatics : they count well, and cut a good figure ; 
but, when they come into action, one has no flint, another has 
no cartridge ; the arms of one are rusty, and another has not 
learned to handle them. This was not the complaint equally at 
all times. It belongs too peculiarly to the present day." 

You say, " It is one thing to speak eloquently in favor of 
revivals, in the hearing of a religious party, — around the tea- 
table, — in the circle of the drawing-room, — or even in the 
pulpit; but it is quite a different thing to come down into the 
' tug of war,' — the laborious matter-of-fact work in a revival." 
.Yes ! and there are too many who, in this respect, imitate Lepi- 
dus Major, a loose Roman, of whom it is recorded, that when 
his comrades were exercising in the camp, he used to lay him- 



REVIVAL PREACHING. 199 

self down under a shady tree, yawning, "Would that this 
were all the duty I were to do." Would that my good wishes, 
and good opinions, well expressed, could bring about a revival 
of religion. I have read somewhere of a philosopher, in ancient 
times, who wrote powerful and eloquent articles upon the neces- 
sity of a " declaration of war " upon the part of his countrymen ; 
spirit-stirring and burning were his appeals. The spirit of the 
nation was aroused. " To arms ! To arms ! " was the general 
cry. The philosopher was made an officer. Instead of his 
morning gown, his study companion, he shone in " regiment- 
als ;" the sword was put into his hand in place of the pen ; a 
regiment of men to command, instead of a regiment of words : 

11 Morn on the mountains, sunrise on the main, 
And battle's red array upon the plain ; 
Touched with the orient gleam, each line appears, 
A wall of fire beneath a hedge of spears ! " 

The hostile armies charge. The shouts of warriors mingle 
with the clangor of trumpets and the clash of arms. Our man 
of letters learned soon, to his dismay, that nice speculations, 
poetical descriptions, nourish of metaphor, and high-sounding 
terms of national honor, differed materially from the stern reali- 
ties of war. There was a wide contrast between the quiet of 
his old study and the din and desperation of the bloody battle- 
field. A war of words, " black with ink," differed widely from 
the " one red scene of human butchery " which encompassed 
him around ; so he prudently formed the resolution to " let them 
fight it out; " — an exit from the scene of conflict appeared " the 
better part of valor." Whether he kept his sword, or flung it 
from him, is not material, — 

' ( He ran away, 
And lived to fight another day." 

I knew a minister once, who wrote some glorious and stirring 
things about revivals, and very eloquently too. Thousands of 
copies of his appeals were circulated far and wide; but, when a 
revival of the word of God burst forth like a flame, in his own 



200 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

neighborhood, his face was seldom seen in one of the meetings. 
Many of the vilest sinners in town were getting converted, and 
vast numbers were under the deepest concern about their eter- 
nal interests. A large body of faithful men — men who had 
never printed a line on the subject of revivals — entered into 
the work "heart and soul; " while our gentleman of the pen, 
to avoid responsibility, or escape observation, set out for a " short 
excursion " into the country. There he continued, " enjoying 
himself," and entertaining a polite and fashionable circle, while 
his brethren, pale and worn, were pushing the battle to the 
gates, or improving the victory to the utmost of Gospel power. 

It is not to be wondered at that there are men to be found, in 
great numbers, who speak well of revivals. Methodism owes 
its origin and present " standing " in the world to such extraor- 
dinary effusions of the Holy Spirit. If she is to advance to 
glory and victory, it must be done by the same instrumentality. 
If Methodism is to retrace her steps back again to her " former 
nonentity," or if she is to be reduced to an invalid among the 
denominations of Christendom, she must be deprived of these 
gracious visitations of mercy and love. But our church requires 
more than "good speaking and writing." She calls for action, 

— vigorous action, — powerful and continuous efforts, ordinary 
and extraordinary, for the conversion of sinners. That advice 
of Cicero, to the politicians of his day, is strikingly applicable 
to the " pen and ink heroes and wordy carpet knights " of the 
present time, with regard to revivals, arid consequent ingathering 
of sinners to the Methodist church : " Let, therefore, the pen 
give place to the sword ; arts to arms ; the shade to the sun ; 
and let that virtue have the preeminence in the state, by which 
the state itself getteth the precedency of all other. Let that 
rule in the city, by which the city hath obtained the dominion 
of the whole world." 

O, my brother ! whatever others may do, be wise for eternity, 

— wise not only in running the Christian race, and in securing 
your own salvation, but in winning souls to Christ. " He that 
w'inneth souls is wise." 



REVIVAL PREACHING. 201 

Christianity has her subjects of beauty, harmony, and grand- 
eur. In many instances, she would seem to invite the inquir- 
ing mind into the investigation of " truth in the abstract ; " 
where taste may be regaled, and where the lover of polite liter- 
ature may luxuriate in the wide field of her boundless wealth. 
That there is much in such intellectual disquisitions " to soothe 
the mind," as you say, " please the fancy, and move the affec- 
tions, " I do admit; but I do not forget that there may be much 
also to gratify human vanity. Could you see my papers, which 
are folded up and put away, you could not believe such subjects 
have been by me " always and wholly disregarded ; " but they 
are totally unfit for the present services, and those great truths 
which are adapted to them I conscientiously prefer, even at the 
risk of having " certain persons of an intellectual character form 
an unfavorable opinion of the mind and education of the 
stranger." 

" With a religion so argumentative as ours," says an elegant 
writer, " it may be easy to gather out a feast for the human 
understanding. With a religion so magnificent as ours, it may 
be easy to gather out a feast for the human imagination. But 
with a religion so humbling, and so strict, and so spiritual, it is 
not easy to mortify the pride, or to quell the strong enmity of 
nature, or to arrest the current of affections, or to turn the con- 
stitutional habits, or to form a new complexion over the moral 
history, or to stem the domineering influence of things seen 
and things sensible, or to invest faith with a practical suprem- 
acy, or to give its objects such a vivacity of influence as shall 
overpower the near and the hourly impressions that are ever 
emanating upon man, from a seducing world." 

Nor should the sentiments of one of your own great divines, 
of the seventeenth century, be overlooked : " General persua- 
sives to repentance and a good life, and invectives against sin 
and wickedness at large, are certainly of good use to recom- 
mend religion and virtue, and to expose the deformity and dan- 
ger of a vicious course. But it must be acknowledged, on the 
other hand, that these general discourses do not so immediately 
tend to reform the lives of men ; because they fall among the 



202 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

crowd, but do not touch the consciences of particular persons 
in so sensible and awakening manner as when we treat upon 
particular duties and sins, and endeavor to put men upon the 
practice of one, and to reclaim them from the other, by argu- 
ments taken from the word of God, and from the nature of par- 
ticular virtues and vices." 

My work, in these special services, is to cast away from me 
every discussion that would serve to retard the great purposes 
of my mission, and to preach those mighty truths of the Gospel 
that will awaken and convert men. If some of my hearers do 
not, or will not, understand my "object and aim," I cannot help 
it. We may say of fine sermons, during a revival, as Hector 
said to Paris : " It is not your golden harp, nor curled hair, 
and beautiful painting, that will stand you in the field ; " and, 
as an old divine says : "Neither is it the wrought scabbard, but 
the strong blade ; not the bright color, but the sharp edge of it, 
that helpeth in danger, and hurteth the enemy." I have, my 
dear sir, drawn the sword, and have thrown away the scab- 
bard. Let jesters and speculators "have their say," — that 
sword shall make havoc, by the power of the Holy Ghost, among 
" the king's enemies ; " and before I leave this chapel, I hope 
to be able to point to a great cloud of witnesses, — a host of new 
converts, — and say, " Behold the fruits of my ministry ! These 
are of more value to me in the church of God than thousands 
of hearers applauding my sermons, and not a sinner, perhaps, 
converted to God ! " 

You inquire, "If these religious excitements, which some call 
revivals, are of God, if they are really produced by the Holy 
Spirit, why, then, are they not more frequent and more general, 
among all denominations of Christians ? " 

Ordinarily, I should suppose it is because the great truths 
necessary to bring sinners to repentance are but partially and 
faintly insisted upon ; or, though advanced with some degree 
of point and power, the impressions are not followed up by 
repeated blows of a similar character, nor are distinct results 
expected. 



RETIVA.L PREACHING. 203 

The reason why the important doctrines of "repentance and 
regeneration " are not realized vividly, and experienced clearly, 
by the great mass of Protestants, of various denominations, is, 
not because they are not laid down and defined in their articles 
of faith, and ably defended in their theological books ; but, 
chiefly, from the fact that they are not distinctly, fervently, fre- 
quently, and experimentally preached. May not the words con- 
version, a cJiange of heart, or the influence of the Spirit upon the 
soul, be introduced merely to grace a sentence, impart smooth- 
ness to a period, or to throw a hue of orthodoxy or of spiritual- 
ity over the sermon, and not from any deeply felt desire that the 
unconverted should be brought into this safe and happy state 
immediately ? Not unfrequently it is with the above, as with 
the doctrine of an eternal hell ; the word " hell " is incorporated 
into the discourse, because it cannot be well avoided. It becomes 
a link in the chain of high-sounding argument. Leave that link 
out, and the chain is broken ; the argument would fall to pieces, 
and become disgraceful to the preacher. (A word in the sen- 
tence it must be, because necessary to the sense ; and without it 
the effort would be stigmatized as " meaning nothing") The 
hard, impolite, and unfashionable little word is, therefore, em- 
ployed, but in such a manner as to give the least offence pos- 
sible. I have heard some men use the term hell in their ser- 
mons, apparently for no other purpose than as a rhetorician 
introduces a solecism, — that is, a want of fitness in a word or 
sentence, in order to distinguish, with more peculiar grace, cer- 
tain other figures of speech ; or, as a musician uses a discord 
among harmonious notes, to impart to the latter a sweeter mel- 
ody; or, as a limner employs dark color to throw out into bolder 
relief and beauty the brighter parts of a picture; — but with 
just as much concern for the awakening and conversion of the 
sinner, as is felt by the rhetorician, the musician, or the lim- 
ner. 

The real hell, as described in the Scriptures, is not uncovered 
in all the terrific horrors which belong to it; nor in such a man- 
ner as to render inapplicable that satirical couplet, — 



204 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

" Smooth down the stubborn text to ears polite, 
And snugly keep damnation out of sight." 

Hell is not unfolded so as to make the heart and soul of the 
many sinners in that congregation quake and tremble before the 
Lord God of Hosts ; extorting, if possible, the awakened and 
agonizing cry, — 

" What must be done, 
To save a wretch like me ? 
How shall a trembling sinner shun 
That endless misery ? " 

Or, in the language of the terrified jailer, " What must I do to 
be saved ? " In this way did an eminent man, now with God, 
open the horrors of hell before the eyes of an appalled audience. 
His text was, Rev. 14 : 9 — 11. And what, think ye, must the 
sermon have been, when the following is but a scrap from the 
exordium, or introduction ? " Great God ! suspend for a few 
minutes the small still voice of thy Gospel. For a few minutes, 
let not this auditory hear the church shouting, ' Grace, grace 
unto it ! ' Let the blessed angels, who assist in our assemblies, 
for a while leave us to attend to the miseries of the damned ! 1 
speak literally. I wish these miserable beings could show you 
for a moment the weight of their chains, the intensity of their 
flames, the stench of their smoke. Happy, if, struck with these 
alarming objects, the sinner may imbibe a holy horror, and hence- 
forth oppose against all temptations, these words, The smoke of 
their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever. In such a man- 
ner Cecil preached, when he said, " Hell is before me ; millions 
of souls are shut up there in everlasting agonies — millions more 
are on the way. Jesus Christ sends me to proclaim his ability 
and love. I want no fourth idea. Every fourth idea is a grand 
impertinence ; every fourth idea is contemptible." 

I write to a candid, observing man. Tell me, is hell thus 
delineated in the place of worship where you usually worship God? 
If hell be a reality, and is believed to be so by the preacher, is it 
safe to keep it out of the sinner's view, or to represent it less ter- 
rible than it is ? When the Rev. John Wesley began to preach 



REVIVAL PREACHING, 205 

thus, he raised a storm of persecution around him; but he was 
soon surrounded with thousands of penitent and alarmed sin- 
ners. And when compelled to take up the pen in self-defence, he 
said, "You put me in mind of an eminent man, who, preach- 
ing at St. James', said, ' If you do not repent, you will go to 
a place which I shall not name before this audience.' I cannot 
promise so much, either in preaching or writing, before any 
audience, or to any person whatever. * * * For,tosaythe 
truth, I desire to have both heaven and hell ever in my eye, 
while I stand on this isthmus of life, between these two bound- 
less oceans ; and I verily think the daily consideration of both 
highly becomes all men of reason and religion." 

I cannot pursue this thought further ; but allow me to inquire, 
How has that deeply interesting phraseology of the Holy Ghost 
been treated by your minister? — " Born again. — Repent and 
be converted. — Passed from death unto life; — from darkness 
to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may 
receive forgiveness of sins. — "Who hath delivered us from the 
power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of 
his dear Son. — In whom we have redemption through his blood, 
the forgiveness of sins. — The eyes of your understanding being 
enlightened. — Not by works of righteousness which we have 
done, but, according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing 
of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. — We 
have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but the 
Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. — The Spirit 
itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children 
of God. — And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the 
Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." 

But this language may be explained away, so as to mean 
nothing beyond a stricter attention to the duties of religion than 
may have hitherto marked the conduct of the hearer ; or the 
putting off the immoralities belonging to the irreligious, and put- 
ting on those external decencies which should characterize the 
servant of God. 

The above-quoted language of the Scripture is defined by a 
regenerated minister, not as including a mere attendance upon 
18 



206 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

the ordinances of religion, nor a mere change in the morals 
(which are indeed the fruits of " the new birth unto righteous- 
?iess"), but the forgiveness of all the sins which are past (Rom. 
3 : 25), and the regeneration of the soul; an entire and radical 
change of the whole nature; a complete renovation of the heart, 
as well as of the life ; and a full and satisfactory assurance, by 
the witness of the Spirit, of the adoption of the believer into the 
family of God, and the earnest of his right to the heavenly 
inheritance. Such a minister will not rest satisfied till he sees 
the unconverted in his congregation broken down into repent- 
ance for sin. With many tears, and with a heart yearning for 
the salvation of sinners, he will scatter, with an unsparing hand, 
the living coals of eternal truth upon the naked consciences of 
his hearers, till each is compelled to cry for himself, " God have 
mercy upon me, a sinner ! Save, Lord, or I perish ; heal my 
soul, for I have sinned against thee ! 

1 1 must this instant now begin 
Out of my sleep to wake ; 
And turn to God, and every sin 
Continually forsake. 
I must for faith incessant cry, 
And wrestle, Lord, with thee ; 
I must be born again, or die, 
To all eternity.'" 

Nor will he rest until he hear many of these agonized sin- 
ners joyfully exclaim, " Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that 
is within me bless his holy name ! Bless the Lord, oh my soul, 
and forget not all his benefits : who forgiveth all thine iniquities ; 
who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from 
destruction ; who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender 
mercies ; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy 
youth is renewed like the eagle's ! " 

Alas ! sir, there are ministers within the circle of your 
acquaintance, who, instead of using such scriptural methods for 
the conversion of their hearers, "ridicule the idea," and pro- 
nounce such effects a fanatical excitement, to be deprecated and 
avoided. It would appear, from the expressions of some, that 



KEVIVAL PREACHING. 207 

rather than witness such a movement among hitherto careless 
sinners belonging to their charge, they would prefer to see their 
congregations bearing all the marks of deep spiritual slumber, 
and not a single vestige of the true character of godliness un- 
folded in their experience or practice. That there are some 
honorable and noble exceptions, I am ready to admit ; but that 
I am not overrating the matter, as it regards several within the 
circle of your acquaintance, you know very well. Instances 
have come under my own observation, where a revival has com- 
menced and spread among multitudes who had till then lived in 
the total neglect of all religion, and that revival bearing all the 
marks, and presenting the most convincing evidence, of its being 
a real work of God, — the cries of penitential sinners mingling 
daily with the triumphant shouts of new-born souls. Acts 2. 
Yet such men have taken the alarm, and from their pulpits have 
warned their people against " this imported fanaticism." 

A town in America was visited, at a certain time, with a pow- 
erful revival of religion. Multitudes of sinners were brought 
into great distress about their souls, and very many were made 
partakers of the pardoning love of God. There was, indeed, a 
great shaking among the dry bones. Ezek. 37 : 1 — 10. There 
were the piercing cries of penitent sinners, and the heavy groans 
of others, who dared not so much as look up to heaven ; and the 
loud supplications of the faithful servants of God, who knew and 
felt all this to be the result of an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, 
and that nothing short of the power of God could have brought 
about such a sudden and wondrous change in the feelings of so 
many sinners at the same time. Sinners, high and low, rich 
and poor, youth and old age, — from the child of ten to the grand- 
father of seventy, — were supplicating together, at the throne 
of grace, for mercy. Christians, who had long prayed for a 
revival, were now weeping aloud for joy ; and new converts, 
whose numbers were daily increasing, were rejoicing with joy 
unspeakable and full of glory. It is proper to state, as it is con- 
nected with the anecdote, that it was a winter of extreme cold 
in that part of North America ; the ice was on the lakes and 
rivers, from two and a half to three feet in thickness. Not far 



208 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

from the scene of the revival, one day, stood two men in close 
conversation. They belonged to different churches, and the fol- 
lowing was the substance of their discourse : " What is the state 
of religion in your church ? " inquired one ; a very important 
inquiry, by the way, and I wish it were more frequent among 
Christians of every denomination. The other, who had " tasted 
of the good word of God, and felt the powers of the world to 
come," had sufficient discernment and spirituality to reply : 
"Very cold, indeed, sir; it is as far below the freezing point at 
present, as the temperature of the atmosphere ! " Very express- 
ive, and applicable to more churches than one. 

" And what is your minister preaching about?" was the next 
inquiry ; and a very natural one, because such a state of extreme 
coldness in religious feeling, while neighboring congregations 
were receiving such gracious visits from on high, and when the 
wilderness and the solitary places were being made glad, and 
were rejoicing and blossoming as the rose, would naturally call 
forth some expression from the pastor, from which it might be 
inferred whether he was satisfied with such a state of things. 
The answer was : " He is laboring chiefly to show the danger 
of animal excitement." 

This was the theme of the poor man's preaching; who evi- 
dently preferred that his church should remain in a state of cold 
indifference, and he himself enjoy his leisure and his books, 
while a great mass of the sinners belonging to his congregation 
were asleep in their sins, and exposed, every moment, to the 
torments of hell ; and all this for the avowed and plausible 
reason, — lest they should incur "the danger of animal excite- 
ment." The conversation closed with the amusing exclama- 
tion, "The danger of animal excitement! Why, surely the 
man's sermons would be better adapted to the state of his con- 
gregation, were he to preach on the danger of being spiritually 
frost-bitten ! " 

Now, we will suppose that the Spirit of God had, in mercy to 
that church, descended upon the souls of sinners, while the min- 
ister was in the act, perhaps, of uttering some great truth of 
Christianity ; and this he could not well avoid doing sometimes, 



REVIVAL PREACHING. 209 

although it might be mingled with much that was erroneous in 
principle. We will suppose that, under the power of that con- 
straining influence from above, many had been instantaneously- 
awakened into the deepest distress, on account of their sins, — 
as were the three thousand on the day of Pentecost, who were 
"pricked in their hearts" and cried, "Me?i and brethren, what 
shall we do ? " Alas for the man, — what would he have done ? 
Probably he would have taken the most direct methods to put 
down the noise, and check this " animal excitement." Unless, 
indeed, fear had induced him to pause, not knowing what to do. 
A few years ago, a circumstance, somewhat similar, occurred 
in the United States. Two ministers, whose method and whose 
success in preaching were the antipodes of each other, were one 
day conversing together. It had long been a matter of surprise 
to the unsuccessful preacher, how it came to pass that the other 
could always produce such a powerful excitement among the 
people wherever he went, the good effects of which he could not 
deny ; many sinners having become reformed and truly religious 
under his preaching, as if by miracle. During the conversation, 
he pleasantly expressed his wonder at the achievements of his 
friend, and alluded slightly to the absence of any such thing in 
connection with his own ministry. He received the following 
reply : " Our objects in preaching, my brother, are quite differ- 
ent. I aim at the conversion of sinners to God ; but you aim, it 
would seem, at nothing of the kind ; and how can we expect 
similar effects, when we aim at results so widely different ? " 
Seeing the good-natured man pleased with the remarks, if not 
deeply convicted of their truth, he continued : " Here is one of 
my sermons; preach it to your people, and observe the effects." 
The sermon was accepted, as it probably saved him the trouble 
of preparing one for the coming Sabbath. In the simplicity of 
his heart, he entered the pulpit, and, at the proper time, began 
the sermon. He had not proceeded far with the discourse, before 
it began to move the congregation ; but, having his eyes confined 
closely to the document, he did not at first discover the effect. 
When sinners became alarmed, he felt embarrassed ; but con- 
tinued the sermon to the end. Upon descending from the pul- 
18* 



210 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

pit, he was met by a sinner in great distress, inquiring, " What 
shall I do ? " The unhappy preacher was thrown into confu- 
sion, and began to apologize, — " ! I am sorry I have hurt your 
feelings ; indeed, it was not my intention to do so ! " 

How is it possible such a man could have a revival ? or enter 
into one and carry it forward, should it commence under his 
ministry ? And, to refer again to that minister who warned his 
people against "animal excitement," would it not have been 
more becoming, had he admonished them of the danger of falling 
into hell? a catastrophe, this, of more dreadful consequence than 
the mere excitement of animal passions. Had that man's heart 
been right with God, instead of frequent attempts to prejudice 
sinners against the revival, he would have been in an agony for 
their conversion, "weeping between the porch and the altar;" 
and praying for his guilty brethren, as did the holy prophet : " 
Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid : Lord, revive 
thy work, in the midst of the years make known, in wrath 
remember mercy." 

Pardon me for referring again to the clergyman and the bor- 
rowed sermon. Had that man, ere he began to preach, drank 
"the wormwood and the gall," from the bitter cup of repentance ; 
had his soul been carried through all the stages of a troubled 
and penitent conscience, till, by faith in the blood of atonement, 
he had experienced remission of sins; had he then been prompted 
by love to the souls of perishing sinners, and impelled forward to 
preach the Gospel to them, by a consciousness that necessity was 
laid upon him, with a "woe is unto me if I preach not the Gos- 
pel;" — had this been the case, his heart would have leaped for 
joy to behold a weeping congregation; and, when this con- 
science-stricken sinner came, inquiring what he should do, the 
answer would have been forthcoming, and the sympathizing 
minister would have been on his knees too, supplicating God in 
behalf of the condemned one. 

But the man who has never felt the evil nature of sin, nor 
tasted its bitterness, nor suffered the agonies of the " new birth," 
can have but little sympathy with the sorrows of a penitent ; 
nor is it to be expected that such a man will preach elearly 



REVIVAL PREACHING. 211 

energetically, and successfully, the doctrines of repentance, faith, 
and conversion. He can have little heart to do so. A poet has 
well described the preaching of such : 

"The clear harangue, and cold as it is clear, 
Falls soporific on the listless ear ; 
Like quicksilver, the rhetoric they display 
Shines as it runs, but, grasped at, slips away." 

I admit that a man possessed of some acquaintance with 
theology, of considerable learning, ready utterance, of an " in- 
genious and metaphysical turn of mind," and capable of some 
thrilling strokes of eloquence, which he would show off equally 
well were he lecturing upon any of the sciences, may sometimes 
be drawn out further than he had intended, in preaching the 
peculiar doctrines of the Cross. Though he has never been con- 
verted, and is no more a child of God than the " veriest sinner" 
in his congregation, yet, in the use of the pen, he may be the 
subject of deep emotion, and in public speaking he may kindle 
into excitement, and expatiate largely, and with ardor, upon the 
necessity of a conversion which he has never realized to his own 
experience. 

In those seasons, he may be led to utter some bold and stir- 
ring thoughts upon the subject, which may fasten upon the con- 
sciences of some flagrant sinners in the audience ; and may even 
excite very uneasy sensations in the minds of his more intelli- 
gent but unconverted hearers. But, should any of them weep 
aloud, and, through the violence of their feelings, cry out, "Men 
and brethren, what shall we do?" or come to him, in the usual 
distress of penitential sorrow, privately, for advice, the man 
would be thrown into confusion, and be "at his wits' end." 
Grant that he has a particle of moral honesty in his soul, will 
he not be compelled to confess his own incapacity to explain to 
the inquiring penitent the way of faith ? 

After such an occurrence, it is likely, he would be more 
guarded in his pulpit phraseology, — the sure method to avoid 
any trouble of a similar kind ; and, of course, an effective pre- 
caution against a revival. But a secret conviction, not to be 



212 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

stifled, of the danger of his own soul, may fasten upon his con- 
science ; which, if it do not result in his conversion, may embit- 
ter many an hour of his existence. 

While in the city of Quebec, a few months since, I was much 
interested in a work lately translated from the German. While 
proceeding through the volume, I met with the following anec- 
dote, which will serve to illustrate the point, while it shows, at 
the same time, how the truths of the Gospel affect the sinners 
of that country. 

The author stated that, some years ago, and not far from his 
place of abode, there lived a very gifted preacher; that he 
preached the doctrines of the Cross with great earnestness, and 
on that account was violently opposed. One of his opponents, 
a well-informed person, who had for a long time absented him- 
self from the church, observed, one Sabbath morning, that he 
would go and hear the gloomy man once more, and see whether 
his preaching was any more tolerable than before. He went ; 
and that morning the preacher w r as speaking of the "narrow 
way," which he did not make any narrower, or broader, than 
the word of God describes it. "A new creature in Christ, or 
eternal damnation," was the theme of his discourse ; and he 
spoke with power, and not as a learned reasoner. The man 
heard him patiently ; and, during the sermon, the question forced 
itself upon his conscience, " How is it with myself? Does this 
man declare the real truth ? If he does, what must be the inevi- 
table consequence ? " This thought took such hold upon him, 
that he could not get rid of it amidst any of his engagements, 
but it became more and more troublesome and penetrating, and 
threatened to embitter his whole life. By the way, sir, this is 
just what we mean by the terms we are often led to use, during 
the progress of this revival : such as, " convinced of sin ;" 
"brought under a concern for the soul;" "the awakened sin- 
ner;" " the anxious inquirer after salvation," etc. 

His uneasy state of mind continued ; the danger of losing his 
soul again and again intruded upon his thoughts, and was con- 
tinually present in all his meditations. At length he concluded 
to go to the preacher himself, and ask him, upon his conscience, 



REVIVAL PREACHING. 213 

if he were really convinced of the truth of what he had lately- 
preached. So, embracing an opportunity, he addressed the man 
who had been the means of creating all this trouble. " Sir," he 
said, with great earnestness, " I was one of your hearers, when 
you spoke, a short time since, of the only way of salvation. I 
confess to you that you have disturbed my peace of mind, and 
I cannot refrain from asking you solemnly, before God and upon 
your conscience, if you can prove what you asserted, or whether 
it was an unfounded alarm." The preacher, not a little sur- 
prised at this address, replied, with convincing seriousness, that 
what he had spoken was undoubtedly the word of God, and, 
consequently, infallible truth. And now it was that the Spirit of 
God was about to make the awakened sinner, in his turn, the 
instrument of convincing the clergyman that he himself had 
never been converted to God, and therefore not in the " narrow 
way." " What, then, is to become of us ? " replied the visiter. 

The last word, us, startled the preacher ; but he rallied his 
thoughts, and began to explain the way of salvation to the in- 
quirer, and to exhort him to repent and believe. 

But the latter, as though he had not heard a syllable the 
preacher had said, interrupted him in the midst of it, and 
repeated, with increasing emotion, the anxious exclamation, " If 
it be truth, sir, I beseech you, what are we to do ? " 

Terrified, the preacher staggered back: "We," thought he, 
" what means this we ? " But, endeavoring to stifle his inward 
uneasiness and embarrassment, he resumed his exhortation and 
advice. Tears came into the eyes of the visiter. He smote 
his hands like one in despair, and exclaimed, in accents which 
might have melted a heart of stone, " Sir, if it be truth, we are 
lost and undone ! " 

The preacher stood pale and speechless, and trembled. But, 
overwhelmed with astonishment, with downcast eyes and con- 
vulsive sobbings, he exclaimed, " Friend ! down upon your knees ! 
let us pray and cry for mercy ! " They knelt down and prayed, 
and, shortly after, the visiter retired. The minister shut him- 
self up in his study, and sought the salvation of his soul with 
his whole heart. The Sabbath arrived, but the congregation 



214 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

was without a preacher. He had, it would seem, come to a con- 
clusion to preach no more, till he knew that God, for Christ's 
sake, had forgiven his sins. Word was sent to the waiting con- 
gregation that the minister was unwell, and could not preach. 
The same thing happened the Sabbath following. On the third 
Sabbath he made his appearance before his congregation, worn 
with his inward conflict, and pale, but his eyes were beaming 
with joy. He commenced his discourse with the affecting dec- 
laration, that he had now, for the first time, passed through the 
" strait gate." Matt. 7 : 14. 

Perhaps the following may not be uninteresting. There is a 
story related in the town of Northampton, State of Massachu- 
setts, United States, of a young minister, of the name of Stod- 
dard, who, many years ago, was pastor of a congregation in that 
place. Although his learning and talents could not be ques- 
tioned, yet some of the pious of his church seriously doubted 
whether he was a converted man. Why they entertained such 
a suspicion, I have not seen stated in any accounts of the cir- 
cumstance. It arose, probably, either from his careless manner 
of living, or from the style and matter of his preaching, — per- 
haps from the cold reception he may have given to persons who 
were in distress for their souls, as well as from his repeated 
assertions that none could possibly ascertain by their feelings 
whether they were in a state of grace. However, the convic- 
tion became riveted upon the minds of his sincere and honest 
people, that the great question of their minister's conversion was 
yet unsettled ; and that he could never preach the great doctrines 
of repentance, faith in Christ, and regeneration, with zeal, with 
an unction from above, and with convincing clearness and suc- 
cess, if he had never experienced such things himself. The event 
proved that they had been correct in their surmises. They 
knew him to be a young man of talents and learning, and were 
aware how useful he might become, if prepared for it by a sound 
conversion. They could not conscientiously desert the house 
of God, nor tempt him to withdraw from preaching the Gospel, 
and, perhaps, throw his talents into the service of the devil ; 



REVIVAL PKEA CUING. 215 

but they agreed to set apart a day for special fasting and prayer 
for the conversion of their pastor. 

Many of the people, going to the house of God on that day, 
had, of necessity, to pass the door of the minister. Mr. Stod- 
dard observing unusual numbers passing by, hailed a plain man, 
whom he knew, and inquired, " What is all this ? What is doing 
to-day?" The individual replied, "The people, sir, are all 
going to meeting to pray for your conversion." 

This piece of information went to his heart like an arrow, and 
he silently exclaimed, " Then it is time, surely, I prayed for 
myself." He was not seen any more that day; and while his 
people were praying for him in public, he was ardently seeking 
salvation in private. While they were yet speaking, God 
answered, and set his soul at liberty. It was not long before 
the people of God obtained evidence, most unquestionable, that 
he had indeed passed " from death unto life ! " That man labored 
among them nearly half a century, and, it is said, he was ranked 
among the most able ministers of the age. 

You have probably read the memoir of a clergyman of the 
Establishment, who was, in his pulpit labors, very successful in 
the awakening and conversion of sinners — the Rev. R. Mayow. 
If so, you will recollect the following sentiments, from his own 
pen, and they are the best apology I can offer for myself: " The 
occasional abruptness of my sermons is not owing to inattention, 
but design. AVere I previously to show the manner in which I 
intend to carry on the attack, I should act like a general who 
should publish all his plans to the party he wishes to overcome. 
Through the whole of my life, I have been of the opinion that 
the poor, and, indeed, that all ranks of people, are best taught 
by tales and parables. Not to be affected by the marvellous, is 
an irrational and false refinement, which the poorest of the peo- 
ple never arrive at in any age. It is on this principle that I 
encourage myself to say, in the .pulpit, what often appears 
uncommon and extraordinary, and what, by many people, is 
taken for a useless and wild eccentricity. But, to a mind free 
from refinement, everything said in this manner comes w r ith 
double weight. It approaches to the nature of the marvellous, 



216 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

jyhich is the strongest power by which the human mind is gov- 
erned. 

"To me, it appears not to be enough considered how much 
harm is done by being tedious and tiresome. It is this that 
makes empty pews in so many churches. Of my own sermons, 
I feel perfectly certain that they have done more harm, by being 
wearisome and by setting people asleep, than they ever did by 
being uncommon. I certainly allow that in my mode of preach- 
ing it is very easy to go too far. The very attempt itself to 
write a striking sermon unavoidably exposes one to the danger 
of writing a bad one ; for it is a very thin division that separates 
what is very bad from what is very good. This division is 
sometimes so very slight that it cannot be seen at all. It always 
occurs to me, that going too far will never be discovered by the 
greatest part of my hearers, if I cannot find it out myself; and 
as to the judicious few, I always give them credit for being sat- 
isfied with my intentions, though not with my judgment." 

You inquire, " Why call persons forward to be prayed for ? 
Why make such invidious distinctions in your congregations? 
Could not God convert them in any other part of the chapel, as 
well as at the communion-rails?" 

1. Because there are "distinctions" in reality, produced by 
the Spirit of God, before we make them by separation. 

2. If God has told us to pray one for another, that we may be 
healed, is it not reasonable that we should know who they are 
that require to be healed ? 

3. By this means we are made acquainted with their partic- 
ular state of mind, and the hindrances with which they may have 
to contend. We are thus enabled to give them instruction suit- 
able to their.circumstances,and to spread their whole case before 
the Lord. 

4. Sympathy is thereby excited in the hearts of praying men. 
It is not possible to see so many persons in distress for their 
souls, and thus separated from the congregation, without having 
one's feelings deeply interested in their salvation. But sympa- 
thy, fervency, and the prayer of faith, are very closely con- 
nected. 



REVIVAL PREACHING. 217 

5. Frequently such a test as that of coming forward to be 
prayed for leads to a decision, the consequences of which may 
be eternal. 

6. This public avowal of their determination to leave the 
ranks of sin, while it commits them to the cause of God, and 
raises a barrier against their return, not unfrequently has a very 
powerful influence upon those who are yet undecided. 

7. We find that those who take such a decided step obtain, by 
doing so, a much greater earnestness of soul than those awakened 
sinners who conclude to remain in their seats. 

8. That God could convert them in " any other part of the 
chapel," we do not deny ; but nineteen out of twenty of those 
who get saved in this blessed work of God have thus come for- 
ward to be prayed for publicly. If the revival be of God, this is 
a part of it which he has evidently acknowledged. But, to 
inquire, Why are more converted at the communion-rail than in 
other parts of the house of God ? would be as wise, perhaps, as 
to question the propriety of the angel passing by all the streams 
and pools in Palestine, and honoring only Bethesda, as a place 
for healing the " impotent folk." 

19 



CHAPTER IV. 

METHODS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL. 

You say, " Your experience has been far more extensive than 
mine. I should like to inquire whether all these extraordinary- 
movements begin and proceed in the same way ; I mean by 
such protracted efforts, and by calling- people forward to be 
prayed for, and so on ? " No, not always. I witnessed a revi- 
val, several years ago, when they did not call penitents forward 
to be prayed for at all. The truth was preached to the people 
in a very pointed manner, and, after each sermon, the congrega- 
tion was requested to kneel and pray to God as the necessities 
of their souls demanded. The work of God broke forth in 
power, and witnesses were raised up on every hand that Jesus 
Christ had power upon earth to forgive sins. We were com- 
pelled, however, to take such a course, on account of having so 
few brethren to help in vocal prayer. 

A revival commenced in a certain place by the following 
means : Two or three pious young men agreed to meet in the 
chapel, at a certain time, to pray for a revival. They had never 
seen anything of the kind ; but almost the entire population 
were " lying in the arms of the wicked one," and they consid- 
ered this a proper and scriptural method for their rescue. Their 
minds, also, were greatly distressed on account of the low state 
of religion. The society had dwindled down to a few ; and it 
was so long since the place had been visited by an outpouring 
of the Holy Spirit, that the leaders knew little, if anything, about 
a revival, and of course felt indifferent as to such a Divine man- 
ifestation. The young men continued to hold their meetings. 
Their timidity forbade them to ask a light (for their time of 
prayer was in the night), but they knew that darkness and light 



METHODS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL. 219 

were both alike to a prayer-hearing God. In that dark chapel, 
night after night, did they pour out their souls in prayer for the 
inhabitants of the place. 

Two months had nearly passed away, and sinners appeared 
quite as indifferent as ever; but they were not discouraged, and 
continued their meetings. About the close of the ninth week, on 
the night of a public prayer-meeting, two young men, hitherto 
careless and wicked, were in great distress, and disturbed the 
few present with their sobs and groans for mercy. This was a 
new thing, but not sufficient to impress the old professors. They 
were upon the eve of a glorious revival, and knew it not. The 
people were dismissed, and no further attention paid to the inci- 
dent. The praying youths, however, had prayed and wept too 
long to be indifferent; but there was no meeting for public 
prayer till the following Thursday night. " Oh ! " said the per- 
son who related the circumstance to me, and who was one of 
the party which composed the secret prayer-meeting ; " oh ! it 
appeared to be a month till the next meeting." The official men, 
in the mean time, foreboding some disturbance, became " ner- 
vous," and exceedingly afraid of excitement. Thursday night 
arrived, and the place was crowded. No one could tell why 
there was such an unusual stir; the secret was with the young 
men. Information reached the preacher stationed on the cir- 
cuit. He came, and recognized it at once as the beginning of a 
great work of God, and entered into it with the usual zeal of a 
Methodist minister. He adjourned the meeting into the chapel. 
The official members followed, curious to see the results; but in 
a short time God touched their hearts, and opened their eyes, 
and they were compelled to exclaim, " Surely God is in this 
place, and we knew it not." It was not long before scores of 
converted souls were added to the little society. 

I could name a place where a revival began, a few years ago, 
under the following circumstances : 

The society had long been in a low state of religious feeling, 
although additions, from time to time, had been made to their 
numbers. The previous preachers had been successful in win- 
ning people out of the world into the church ; but it would 



220 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

seem they had had little success in converting them to Christ. 
Whether it was on account of the generally dead state of the 
members, or the indistinctness of their method of preaching jus- 
tification by faith and the witness of the Spirit, or that they 
did not bestow sufficient labor to have such awakened sinners 
actually saved, the great day must declare. 

A new preacher was sent to the town by Conference. Like 
a faithful man of God, he entered immediately upon a close 
examination of the classes, and was surprised and distressed, as 
we may suppose, to find upwards of two hundred persons, who, 
from their own admission, had never experienced anything more 
than mere conviction for sin. Afterwards he met the leaders, 
described to them the mournful condition of the church, and 
entreated them to exhort those whom they knew to be in an 
unconverted state to press into the liberty of the children of 
God. The local preachers of that circuit were a numerous and 
respectable body. God at this time began to awaken them, in a 
deeper manner than formerly, to the necessity of mental improve- 
ment. They formed themselves into a theological society, and 
met once a week for. the discussion of subjects of divinity. Two 
objects were constantly kept in view : 1. To obtain a better un- 
derstanding of the doctrines of the Gospel ; and, 2. That they 
might be qualified to preach those doctrines in a clearer and 
more effectual manner. 

These "conversations" became increasingly interesting, and 
resulted in a deeper conviction than they had ever realized of 
the necessity of preaching a present salvation to their hearers , 
and, moreover, that it was their duty and privilege to expect an 
immediate effect. 

From this time, the style of their preaching improved with 
the clearness of their perceptions of truth, combined with more 
expansive and enlightened views as to the great design of the 
Gospel to bring sinners at once to Christ. One, and then 
another, got out of his "old beaten track," and aimed directly 
at the conversion of sinners. In the mean time their congrega- 
tions increased surprisingly. The spirit of prayer and expecta- 
tion came down upon believers. Faith, in reference to a general 



METHODS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL. 221 

revival of God's work, increased daily. Many sinners were 
" pricked in their heart ;" and this took place so repeatedly in 
the ordinary services, but certainly under extraordinary preach- 
ing, that they could conceal their disquietude no longer, and 
cries for mercy became of frequent occurrence. Additional 
meetings were now appointed. Crowds attended the meetings 
for prayer, as well as for preaching. The local preachers coop- 
erated with their pastor, gave up their theological meeting, and, 
in their turn, preached the Gospel with great power. The ser- 
vices were continued every night for a considerable length of 
time, and nearly five hundred sinners were converted to God, 
from nine years of age to ninety. 

An account of a revival now lies before me, which occurred 
in another denomination. The minister of that church, whom 
God has greatly honored for his faithfulness, in giving an account 
of the revival, states that his church got into a very low, despond- 
ing condition, and matters became so gloomy that he was upon 
the point of asking a dismission. Unlike some, he could not 
sit down at his ease, knowing that his labors were not blessed, 
careless whether poor sinners were saved or damned. No ! he 
could not bear the thought of staying any longer in a place 
where he was conscientiously convinced he was useless. The 
time of extremity was God's opportunity. One Sabbath night, 
the Spirit of God arrested a young man. He desired to see the 
pastor, and opened his mind on the subject of his distress. A 
meeting for prayer had been appointed for that week ; and when 
the time for beginning the prayer-meeting arrived, to his aston- 
ishment, the place was crowded. A large number of persons 
were there, deeply distressed on account of their sins. 

From that hour the revival advanced in power ; and, accord- 
ing to the last account I heard, the number converted and added 
to his church was above sixty souls, and many more were 
expected to unite themselves to it. 

In preaching, facts are my materials, and not theories. Not 
that I am insensible of the benefit of theories ; they are very 
good in their place, nor do I neglect them. They may be to a 
19* 



222 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

discourse what a foundation is to a building. A foundation 
answers no purpose, unless an edifice be raised upon it ; but we 
want more than the foundation, in the construction of a seemly 
specimen of correct architecture. A sermon, all theory, is nei- 
ther pleasing, profitable, nor effectual. I consider a theorem., 
of course, in the sense of a religious truth laid down as a prin- 
ciple, and treated in a speculative manner, without any illustra- 
tion whatever. Our Lord never neglected first principles, but 
he never speculated, upon them. He seldom advanced a theolog- 
ical principle, in the absence of an historical fact; nor the sim- 
plest moral truth, without an illustration of some kind, real or 
supposed. 

The world is calling 'out for " illustrated science," in every 
department of literature. There is everywhere a dissatisfaction 
with dry definitions and vague speculations. In a late London 
periodical there is a very severe critique upon a certain work 
entitled "A History and Geography of Central Asia." The 
reviewer tells us that it is a very learned and a very useless 
work. After inquiring, What matters it to us of the present 
day where imaginary rivers ran through doubtful provinces, 
watering apocryphal cities some centuries ago, belonging to 
hordes of barbarians, shifting as the sands with which they are 
surrounded, and often overwhelmed ? he asserts, that all these 
should give way to actual observation. " The world," says he, 
" demands facts, and facts only, and turns aside with disgust from 
mere speculation. A few pages, from the latest travellers who 
have explored those regions, are worth more than hundreds of 
volumes of mere controversy." With the above work I have 
nothing to do, for I have never seen it ; but the remarks of the 
critic are just. 

It is a remarkable peculiarity of the scientific lecturers of the 
present age, that they are universally fond of illustrating their 
principles by facts. 

A few years ago, I was invited by a surgeon to hear a medical 
lecture, in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in the city 
of New York. The platform was honored by the presence of 
several talented physicians. We had been seated but a few min- 



METHODS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL. 223 

utes,when an active little man, aged about fifty, made his appear- 
ance on the platform, Professor # # #, and was cheered by the 
students. He announced his subject immediately : " The influ- 
ence of the nerves upon the mind, and of the mind upon' the 
nerves." Brisk, lively, and eloquent, he had our attention in a 
moment, nor did he lose it during the entire lecture. Principles 
were laid down at once ; but, instead of supporting theories by 
theories, and discussing them in the dry technicalities peculiar 
to the medical science, as I expected, he came forward with 
facts, undeniable facts, drawn from his own experience, and the 
observation of others. Real life and history were called upon 
for contribution, without apology. Every eye was fixed upon 
the animated speaker, every mind was interested. Principles, 
to some, might have been unintelligible, to others questionable, 
but his facts were irresistible. 

I here received a lesson on preaching, which I trust will nevei 
be forgotten. Many of our hearers understand our theological 
terms very well ; and though they require no illustration to deepen 
their convictions of the truths of our holy religion, yet facts may 
make them feel, and there is enjoyment in feeling, when the 
heart is rightly tuned by the grace of God. To many of our 
hearers, however, theological technicalities may be quite unin- 
telligible, and are but partially understood, even when we have 
done our best at defining ; while to others, after all our effort, 
they may be questionable or uninteresting. The effects of mere 
statements of truth and explication of terms, upon the minds of 
both classes, are generally vague and superficial, and are easily 
obliterated ; as letters drawn upon the sand are washed out by 
the coming wave. But they will understand facts, and remem- 
ber them, too, nor will they readily fade away from the mind. 
Like a stone in the sand, a fact may imbed itself in the mind, 
and stamp upon it an indelible impression of the truth of that 
which has been thus illustrated. A judicious writer has well 
observed, — " The most important truths, as we are now consti- 
tuted, make but a very slight impression on the mind, unless 
they enter first like a picture into the imagination, and from 



224 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

thence are stamped upon the memory." * " May not the 
sinner," says another, " as well be hearkening to a mathema- 
tician demonstrating Euclid's Elements, as to a preacher only 
proving a point of Christianity ? " 

Exceptions to this statement may occur to your mind. " Prov- 
ing a point in Christianity " may have its effect; indeed, I think 
it is quite necessary ; for we need line upon line, and precept 
upon precept. As those who have learned the Greek grammar, 
and have studied the language well, find, on neglecting it for a 
time, an inexpertness in translating, and no small difficulty in 
recalling first principles, to grapple with the root and its 
branches; so it is necessary to have our memories refreshed 
again and again with the true meaning of every point in Chris- 
tianity. But, observe, the above writer says, " Only proving a 
point." Now, the minister of Jesus whose heart is influenced 
by one desire and aim will not content himself with having 
convinced the hearer of the truth of any one point of Chris- 
tianity; but he will grapple with the conscience, and his ingenious 
mind will range through heaven, and earth, and hell, for facts 
and illustrations ; nor will he allow the sinner to get away, till 
he is forced, if possible, to feel that he has need of everything 
Jesus Christ hath purchased for him by his most precious 
blood. 

A few of the above remarks will apply to some of your " pro- 
posed views " upon revivals. We may theorize and philosophize 
upon revivals for years ; but a minister will learn more on the 
subject in one week, when the Gospel is taking effect upon sin- 
ners, producing its distinct and positive results in their conver- 
sion, than he could by many years of mere theorizing. 

We may say of a certain kind of revival speculations, what a 
writer remarked respecting a review when compared with the 
actual scenes peculiar to the real battle-field, — " It has been 
truly said, that nothing is so unlike a battle as a review." " The 

* " There were times," says an intelligent friend of mine, " when laws 
were chanted, and Orpheus and Amphion were both, it is believed, poetical 
legislators, as were almost all legislators among barbarous people, whose 
reason must be addressed through the medium of the imagination." 



METHODS OF PROMOTING A REViVAL. 225 

art of war," says another, " is one of those sciences which no 
theory or application of fixed and established rules can possibly 
teach ; it is one thing to write from experience of the past, and 
another to acquire a facility of directing operations by a servile 
adherence to the maxims of others." 

I have known places, however, where they had no revival; 
but an account of a revival at a distance, given by an intelligent 
observer, who has engaged in it himself, has there produced the 
most salutary effects. Indeed, this may in part account for the 
prevalence of revivals throughout the United States. Popular 
periodicals have what they term " The Revival Department." 
These papers circulate through all the cities, towns, and villages, 
of the nation. It is seldom any of them appear without an account 
of six, seven, or a dozen revivals ; the instrumentality which 
God has been pleased to acknowledge and honor, with most of 
the remarkable peculiarities of each, are there stated, and read 
by many hundreds of thousands. The population of the country 
is thus made familiar with revivals. Such descriptions fan the 
revival flame in the hearts of ministers and people. A revival 
which has occurred, or is going forward, in such a place, becomes 
the theme of general conversation. Often the effects are thrill- 
ing and powerful beyond description. An entire church will be 
thrown into a state of sanctified excitement, after reading or hear- 
ing the account of a revival in some city or town with which 

they are acquainted. " The revival in " is talked of in the 

counting-house, work-shop, parlor, and kitchen ; and why should 
it not ? Is it not a mighty and a glorious event ; before which the 
interests of science, commerce, and politics, should disappear, as 
stars before the sun arising in his glory ? It is then that the 
inquiry goes forthwith emphatic meaning, — "Why may not 
we have a revival, as well as the people of such a place ? Why 
may not we use the means which they used ? Is God any more 
a respecter of places than of persons ? " Frequently such 
revival news produces great " searchings of heart," both among 
preachers and people. It is impossible, now, to persuade each 
other that they are doing as well as they might, or equally well 
with other parts of the church. They now know to the con- 



226 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

trary; and facts cannot be put down, nor conversation hushed. 
Fine preaching, learned and eloquent preaching, will not satisfy 
the church. The people of God ask for effects ; they inquire 
for results. There is deep humiliation in certain quarters, and a 
provoking to love and good works ; nor will they rest satisfied till 
their ministry and town are honored with a similar out-pouring 
of the Holy Spirit. In the course of a few months, their prayers 
are answered ; their ministers preach as they never did before ; 
sinners are broken down, and are turning to God on every hand ; 
so that their town appears, in its turn, in the Eevival Depart- 
ment, with all the circumstances of a gracious visitation ; and 
similar effects are produced upon other declining churches. 

It frequently happens that these revivals, published in the 
papers referred to, have occurred in towns and circuits where 
certain preachers labored with very little success. The effects 
upon their minds are, of course, peculiarly stirring; leading 
them to deep humiliation before God, and to earnest resolutions 
to be more faithful and zealous ; many of them, in fact, never 
rest till similar results attend their preaching. 

The successive accounts of such revivals never lose their 
interest. Nor have I ever known the people express a want of 
confidence in such communications. The periodicals bearing 
the revival news are circulated, generally, in the very places 
where the revivals are stated to have occurred, and are read by 
numerous subscribers, who certainly would contradict the state- 
ments, if untrue. Besides, such articles are never printed unless 
sent by a responsible person ; they are usually written by the 
preacher in charge of the circuit, and thus the veracity of the 
narrative is considered as unquestionable. This secures the 
religious public from exaggerated statements ; they are, there- 
fore, read with all confidence, and held in undiminished reputa- 
tion. I am sorry the religious periodicals of England have not, 
generally, such a department in their columns. Is it because 
revivals are too numerous to be thus noticed, or that their rarity 
renders a Revival Department unnecessary ? For many reasons, 
I should consider it a serious disaster to the church of God in 
America, if such accounts of revivals were suppressed. 



METHODS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL. 227 

The " one case of conversion " you mention may stand in the 
same relation to a revival as the first drop to the coming 
shower.^ When twenty, thirty, fifty, or one hundred, get con- 
verted to God within a few hours, days, or weeks, then it is 
that the divine glory has descended upon the tabernacle, and the 
arm of God is being made bare, in an extraordinary revival of 
pure religion. This is the sign between God and his praying 
people ; this is the visible token that he has come down into the 
midst of them, for purposes of mercy, — that is, for the revival of 
his own work. It is as much their privilege to " accept the 
sign," when one sinner has been converted in their assembly, as 
when fifty are pardoned ; and to be assured, that if he have 
saved one, he is able and willing to save hundreds and thou- 
sands. But why does he not? Because it does not always 
happen that his people recognize the token of his presence, nor 
the indications of his will. There is now the sound of abun- 
dance of rain ; one drop is frequently the forerunner of as heavy 
a shower, as the descent of fifty in a moment. It is thus the 
Lord usually signifies to his ministers and people that he is 
ready and willing to work, if they will but cooperate. He has 
now come down, they may depend upon it, to make them and 
the places around about his hill a blessing. Ezek. 32 : 26. 
God has appeared in his temple, " to beautify the house of his 
glory." And, if they enter into his gracious designs, the time 
is near at hand when the Lord shall inquire of that church, 
" Who are these that fly like a cloud, and as the doves to their 
windows ? " Let her ministers and members reply, " These are 
thine, oh Lord God, souls but newly found in thee ; gathered and 
gathering into thy church, that they may obtain a preparation 
for their final flight into paradise." Let them answer thus ; and 
they will soon have it impressed upon their hearts by the Lord 
God of hosts, " Therefore, thy gates shall be open continually ; 
they shall not be shut day nor night." Isaiah 60: 11. If they 

* At the first meeting we held in Sheffield, May 12th, 1844, in which we 
called penitent sinners forward for prayer, there was but one saved ; but 
the next meeting was crowned with fifty, and so it went on till more than 
two thousand were converted to God. 



228 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

now throw open the gates of Zion ; have preaching every night, 
or day and night, for weeks, as they do in many parts of the 
United States ; visiting from house to house in the intervals of 
the services, and urging the sinners of the entire population to 
abandon their sins, and return to their offended God, who has 
come down to save every sinner in the place; — then will God 
shake the trembling gates of hell ; they shall see Zion in great 
prosperity, and multitudes of converted sinners added to the 
ranks of the faithful. 

It may be because of the close connection which exists often 
between the conversion of one sinner and that of hundreds, that 
our Saviour tells us, " There is joy in the presence of the angels 
of God over one sinner that repenteth." 

The Lord, my brother, may have manifested his power in the 
behalf of that one soul, in answer to the cries, perhaps, of one or 
two devoted members of your church. And, if the effectual 
fervent prayer of one righteous man avails so much with God, 
how much more the united prayers of your entire church ! y If 
one sigh of a true Christian," says an old divine, " wafts the bark 
to the desired haven, or stirreth Zion's ship, how much more a 
gale of sighs, breathed by hundreds of believers ! If one 
trumpet sounds so loudly in the ears of God, how much more a 
concert of all the silver trumpets in Zion sounding together ! 
Where so many hands are lifted up, how many blessings may 
they not pull down from heaven ! " 

We must do God's work in his time. But, if we content our- 
selves by saying, " We have had a glorious meeting, — a revival 
has begun, surely ;" and yet appoint no additional services for 
the week, in order to fan the flame already kindled, the next 
Sabbath and the next, we may find that he is not with us in our 
time. It may be with us as with the Israelites who murmured 
against Moses, and refused to go up and possess the land in 
God's time. They believed the report of the unbelieving spies, 
and offended the Lord, who had intended to subdue the whole 
country before them. Some of them did go up at their own 
time, but God was not among them, and they fled before their 
enemies. The whole congregation of Israel were ordered to 



METHODS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL. 229 

retrace their steps into the wilderness ; and a judicial punish- 
ment was inflicted, which extended through that entire genera- 
tion. Do you understand me ? Can you make the application? 
I have seen many a flame of reviving piety kindled and 
extinguished in this way. 

I have, however, known instances when, through love of the 
world, or love of ease, or through inattention to the work of the 
Spirit and the call of Providence, churches have been left in a 
state of great barrenness ; and where they have repented, hum- 
bled themselves before God, entered the field of conflict for a 
revival, and by his assistance have obtained splendid victories 
over the powers of hell. 

A minister of my acquaintance visited an American town, 
some years ago. He had only preached a few sermons, when 
many sinners were awakened, and about twenty found salva- 
tion. But a few persons of importance were of opinion that 
the ordinary services were sufficient, and discouraged the active 
brethren, who, rather than cause any unpleasant feelings in 
certain quarters, held back. The Spirit of God was grieved, 
and the revival stopped. The man of God was disheartened, 
and went to another town, where ministers and people made 
him welcome, commenced hostilities against the ranks of sin, 
and the result was an extensive revival, — hundreds of sinners 
were converted. News of these displays of the power of God 
reached the former town, and caused great searchings of heart. 
They saw their error, humbled themselves, and invited him to 
return. In the mean time, to show how sincere were their 
desires for a revival, they began special services of their own 
accord. The minister returned, and found them holding their 
meetings in a large lecture-room. He proposed that they should 
open at once their spacious and beautiful chapel, have it lighted 
brilliantly every night, and comfortably warmed, for it was win- 
ter-time, and thus let the public know that they intended to 
accomplish something, by the help of the Most High, and upon 
a large scale. They did so. During the first and second 
weeks, sinners were very hard, although they had preaching 
twice a day, and little was done. At length, after their past 
20 



230 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

unbelief and indifference had been well chastised, and their 
faith tried to the uttermost, the Lord carne down amongst them 
in glorious power, and sinners were slain on every hand. 

Having seen their error in the former instance, they resolved 
now to improve this victory to the utmost. Opposers of the 
first effort entered fully into the work, and the revival efforts 
were continued several months, and the saved of the Lord were 
very many. 

Be assured your responsibility is very great. Eealize, 1 
entreat you, in what position you are placed. I now under- 
stand all you describe. At one period of my ministry, this 
would not have been the case ; I should have united with others 
in saying, " You are on the eve of a glorious revival." Be not 
deceived ; the sinners of the nineteenth century are well versed 
in the art of procrastination. There is not a faithful minister 
in England who has not learned this to his sorrow. My opinion 
is, you will look in vain for an extensive revival, unless you 
"follow the Mow" with a succession of sermons and prayer- 
meetings. " The heavens are big with rain," but neither one 
peal of thunder nor half a dozen may sufficiently shake them ; 
a score may be required to bring down the " teeming shower." 
Often have I observed such clouds of mercy gather over the 
people of my charge; but they have passed away, and the 
thirsty land has remained unwatered. How many times have 
I seen a congregation, on a Sabbath night, moved as if the 
breezes which are wafted through the streets of the New Jeru- 
salem had swept over the audience, and only five or six out of 
the affected multitude went down to their houses justified ! 
After such a season, I have heard some good people prophesy, 
" Surely a great revival has commenced ! " But here the mat- 
ter ended ; month succeeded to month, and no general revival 
took place ; and very few were gathered from the world into 
the fold, during all that time. And why ? Either because we 
were too slothful, or ignorant of the call of God, or too busily 
engaged in other matters to enter into the designs of the Holy 
Spirit, and do God's work in his own time. It would appear as 
if we considered our only duty to be to wait, and be still, and 



METHODS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL. 231 

expect to see sinners coming by scores, of their own accord, 
inquiring what they should do to be saved ; and all this without 
any extra effort on our part, or any additional meetings beyond 
the ordinary ones. But, to our surprise, sinners became as hard 
and careless as ever, and we were doomed to the disappoint- 
ment which our supineness deserved. You see, my brother, we 
must follow up and improve upon a victory. One whole week, 
or, indeed, two or three weeks, of special services, should have 
succeeded the scene you witnessed a few Sabbath nights since. 
Depend upon it, had you done so, you would have seen a glori- 
ous display of the power of God among sinners. It has been 
said of the great general, Hannibal, that he knew how to obtain 
a victory, but not to improve a victory. Let heaven and earth, 
my brother, never have cause to say this of you again ; that is, 
if to "improve upon the victory" lie within the circle of possi- 
bilities. Remember the saying of the old Greek poet, — I shall 
give it you in plain English : " No wise man will be taken a 
second time in an error he hath suffered for ; " rather should it 
not be the glory of a Christian minister to compel all hell to 
say of him, as did the enemies of a certain Roman general, "If 
he obtain a victory over us, he fiercely insults us and pursues 
it; if he be repulsed, he returns afresh " ? 

You have read that the dying Elisha commanded King 
Joash to take a bunch of arrows, and smite the ground with 
them. 2 Kings, 13: 18, 19. " And he smote thrice, and stayed." 
The dying prophet was deeply grieved in spirit, and said, "Thou 
shouldst have smitten five or six times ; then thou hadst smit- 
ten Syria till thou hadst consumed it : whereas, now, thou shalt 
smite Syria but thrice." He finally obtained only three victo- 
ries over the enemies of Israel ; but it would appear that God 
intended to have given him five or six signal victories, — quite to 
the overthrow of Syria. But his three strokes, perhaps, indi- 
cated his constitutional tendency to slackness or indolence, and 
were an intimation that a few victories over the enemies of his 
God would satisfy a soul fond of ease and quiet; and that, 
when just upon the point of achieving other splendid victories, 



232 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

the habit would allure him into retirement, there to enjoy an 
inglorious peace. 

Ah ! thou man of God, why didst thou not repeat the stroke ? 
Now thou hast obtained but one small victory ; whereas, God 
may have intended thee many, and may have purposed, by 
many strokes, to have shaken .the trembling gates of hell, quite 
to the overthrow of the devil's kingdom, in * =* *= #.; 

Perhaps the Captain of your salvation may soon favor you 
again with another display of his power. If so, what do you 
purpose ? As you resolve, so execute. Should God honor you 
again, as I believe he will, confer not with flesh and blood ; 
regard not what any man may say : improve the victory ; push 
it to the utmost. Consider Judges, seventh and eighth chapters. 
See how Gideon improved the advantage given him by God. 
The first victory resembled the beginning of some revivals 
under very small sermons, that God might have all the glory. 
It was without sword or Spear, for the battle was the Lord's. 
Although one hundred and twenty thousand men of the enemy 
that drew the sword had fallen that day, yet Gideon pushed the 
victory to the uttermost. " He came to Jordan, and passed over 
with his three hundred men, faint, yet pursuing ;" and went up 
to Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote a second host, " for the 
host was secure." He pursued Zeba also, and Zalmunna, the 
two kings of Midian, and took them, and discomfited all the 
host. Gideon knew how to improve a victory. In the midst 
of his mighty achievements, there were some fault-finders, mur- 
mur ers, the men of Ephraim; and there were opposers, "the 
princes of Succoth." Gideon, it seems, had asked bread of 
them for his little army; and this was his plea, — "For they be 
faint, and I am pursuing." He received a rough reply. Gideon, 
however, knew better than to waste precious time in parleying; 
but to the men of Epbraim, who complained bitterly that they 
had not been called out at the beginning of the battle, that they 
might have shared in the glory and the spoil, Gideon replied : 
" What have I now done, in comparison of you ? Is not the 
gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of 
Abi-ezer?" Some have supposed this passage displaced, and 



METHODS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL. 233 

that he was now giving them credit for their noble and vigorous 
improvement of the victory ; that the fact of their having taken 
the two Midianitish generals, and discomfited their hosts at the 
passes of Jordan, was of more importance than if they had 
been present in the moment of the first victory by "the sword 
of the Lord." " Then their anger was abated toward him, 
when he had said that." Judges 8:3. "A soft answer turneth 
away wrath." " He might have said," says one, " that he could 
place but little dependence upon his brethren, when, through 
faint-heartedness, twenty-two thousand of them left him at one 
time ; but he passed this by, and took the more excellent way." 
There is an important lesson here for revivalists. His answer 
to the princes of Succoth was severe; but the men of Ephraim 
were of a very different character, and had heartily repented 
of their neutrality. 

You desire my opinion of a certain kind of preaching ; but 
your own views are so very good, I know not that I can add 
anything material. We may say of many sermons, as the 
countryman, of an exquisitely painted head : " What an excel- 
lent skull is this, — and yet there is no brain in it ! " A discourse 
fraught with "picked phrases," and pretty flowers only, but 
containing nothing to arouse the sinner, or to draw believers 
into more entire devotedness to God, is a sad misapplication of 
talents. We may say of such a discourse, as Herodotus did of 
the head of Onesilus, " It was destitute of brains ; and instead 
thereof, was filled with honey-combs." We may demur against 
such sermons, as did Antalcides of the garland of roses sent 
him by the King of Persia, perfumed with sweet spices and 
odors. He accepted them, but his reply in Latin was equiva- 
lent to this : " The natural fragrance of the roses is lost, by being 
mixed with artificial odors ! " There is much of this kind of 
" artificial perfumery " about the preaching of some men. 

I was amused with a writer, the other day, who, when speak- 
ing of the difference between superficial preachers and those 
who go deeply into the meaning of the Holy Ghost, compared 
the former to the boys of apothecaries, who gather broad leaves 
and white flowers from the surface of the water ; and the latter 
20* 



234 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

to accomplished divers, who bring up precious pearls from the 
bottom of the deep. 

"There is a difference," says an old divine, "between wash- 
ing the face of a discourse clean, and painting it : the former is 
beautiful and commendable ; the latter, sinful and abominable. 
Ministers must mind the capacities of their auditories, and not 
put that meat into their mouths which their teeth cannot chew, 
nor the stomach concoct. Their sermons of quiddities and school 
niceties may (in the opinion of giddy men) tend to their own 
praise, but never to their hearers' profit. Such men, when their 
children ask bread, give them stones, which may choke them, 
but will not nourish them. It is a pity he should ever teach 
school, that will not speak to his scholars so as that they may 
understand." 

A late divine, though not so homely in his phraseology, is 
quite as severe in his remarks upon the wickedness of this soul- 
famishing and gospel-dishonoring preaching : " Indeed, what is 
more unbecoming a minister of Christ than to waste his animal 
spirits, as a spider does his bowels, to spin a web only to catch 
flies ; to get vain applause, by a foolish pleasing of the igno- 
rant ? And what cruelty is it to the souls of men ! It is 
recorded as an instance of Nero's savage temper, that, in a gen- 
eral famine, when many perished by hunger, he ordered that a 
ship should come from Egypt (the granary of Italy) laden with 
sand for the use of the wrestlers. In such extremity, to pro- 
vide only for delight, that there might be spectacles at the thea- 
tre, when the city of Rome was a spectacle of such misery as 
to melt the heart of any but a Nero, was most barbarous cruelty. 
But it is cruelty of a heavier imputation, for a minister to pre- 
pare his sermons to please the foolish curiosity of fancy, and 
flashing conceits ; nay, such light vanities, that would scarce be 
endured in a scene, while hungry souls languish for want of 
solid nourishment." 

The only answer I can give to your closing inquiry is this : 
" We must not only strike the iron when it is hot, but strike it 
till it is made hot. Great occasions must not be waited for, but 
we must make use of ordinary opportunities as they may offer.' 



METHODS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL. 235 

Should a great occasion again offer, make the best use of it 
within your power; — it is easy to hammer out iron when hot; 
but if circumstances are nothing more than ordinary, repeat the 
blow, and strike with power, nor give over till sinners are broken 
to pieces all around you, by the power of God. 



CHAPTER V. 

EFFECT OF REVIVAL EFFORTS ON LUKEWARM CHURCH- 
MEMBERS. 

The impression has been deepening in my mind for several 
years, that it is possible for a man to become deeply concerned 
about his soul ; and that, during the progress of his uneasiness, 
he may be led to give up many of his sins, and exhibit an 
external and visible reformation, and yet stop short of Regenera- 
tion. 

The visitations of the Holy Spirit, and the rebukes of his 
conscience, may have constrained him to renounce the company 
of the wicked and profane, and to give a decided preference to 
the society of real Christians. Having united with some branch 
of the church of God, his career may be marked all along by a 
regular attendance upon all her ordinances. In searching the 
Scriptures, also, as well as in family prayer, in asking a blessing 
at his table, in private prayer, and in the entire government of 
his household, there may be all that is becoming the real Chris- 
tian ; and yet he may still remain an unpardoned and uncon- 
verted sinner, the whole of his visible performances being, in 
the estimation of God, like a body without the soul, because of 
the absence of that animating spirit, the love of God shed 
abroad in his heart, by the Holy Ghost given unto him. A 
conviction of the tremendous truths of eternity, and the priceless 
value of his own soul, may, indeed, have taken fast hold of his 
conscience; but the "one faith," by which a penitent is freely 
forgiven all his sins, through the redemption that is in our Lord 
Jesus Christ, has never yet been once exercised by his pensive 
and restless mind. Justification by faith, all this time, has been 
to him a mystery unexplained. The man has been seeking rest 
in the " outward law," but entirely ignorant of its " deep design." 



EFFECT OF REVIVAL EFFORTS. 237 

It has, indeed, condemned him ; it has left its curse upon his 
conscience ; but it has not been the " schoolmaster to bring him 
to Christ." Throughout his entire efforts, the Spirit of God has 
never made a single visitation to his heart, as a witnessing 
spirit that he is a child of God. He has, indeed, received "the 
spirit of bondage again to fear," but not "the spirit of adoption," 
whereby he is enabled to cry, "Abba, Father;" "the Spirit 
itself " doth not " bear witness " with his spirit, that he is one 
of the children of God. Rom. 8 : 15, 16. 

It would be a relief, if we could limit such characters to two 
or three in a church. Alas ! I find them very numerous, in 
every denomination with which I become acquainted ; and few 
things occur more frequently than the exclamation, with Nico- 
demus, " How can these things be ? " when the doctrines of the 
new birth are pressed home upon the conscience. 

But my observations have extended to another class of pro- 
fessors of religion, some of whom are members of various 
churches; and, dangerous as is the state of the former, the 
latter is still more so. I mean those who are living in the 
neglect of the duties of religion, and who, by the looseness of 
their lives, afford mournful evidence that they have not even 
been awakened to a serious concern for salvation. 

Some, of both classes, I have found, who entertain no expect- 
ation of being saved through faith in the merits of Christ alone, 
but through the " good mercy of God ;" others, I have observed, 
have some crude notions about faith, but mixed up with the 
neutralizing idea of the merit of works ; while most have denied 
the possibility of any person knowing his sins forgiven, by the 
witness of the Spirit. And, to rivet them in their unbelief, there 
have not been wanting ministers of the Gospel, — and men 
called " evangelical," too, — who have positively assured some of 
the above, who were brought to a concern about their souls, that 
there is no possibility of any person knowing in this world that 
God has accepted him; denying, most roundly, the witness of 
the Spirit, and affirming, vehemently, that the only evidence 
of being saved from guilt, which any individual can have, is 



238 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

that of his moral conduct, and those deductions which he is at 
liberty to draw therefrom. 

I have no doubt, whatever, that multitudes join the various 
churches of this land, live and die in union with them, without 
having been born again ; and what have they gained by it, but 
a deeper damnation ? Such unhappy persons may be fitly com- 
pared to the beasts which entered Noah's ark; neither their 
embarkation, nor the terrors of the deluge, — the mercy of the 
Lord displayed in their preservation while other brutes perished, 
nor the voice of prayer and praise by Noah and his family, — 
wrought any radical change in those animals. They went in 
brutes, and they came out brutes ; they entered the ark wild and 
unclean, and they departed wild and unclean. Be it so ; they 
were only brutes, and the God that made them never designed 
they should be anything else. This is not the case with the 
sinners in Zion ; they may be converted, and become saints of the 
most high God ! But a vast number of both classes, already 
described, enter the church of God, and remain there unchanged 
in their nature ; and leave it for another world with an un- 
changed nature, and with as great a distaste for God and godli- 
ness as characterized their carnal mind through life. We have 
seen some of them stretched upon the bed of their last sickness, — 
even those who have led a moral life ; but now, unexpectedly 
called to die, they have realized the inefficiency of all their 
past performances to bring tranquillity to their conscience, or to 
sustain effectually the confidence of their departing spirit, or to 
inspire them with courage to meet the decisions of their Supreme 
Judge. And there have been cases, not a few, in which the 
various acts of rebellion against conscience have terrified the 
soul; "Life has been all retouched again," and with a finger 
of fire ! If such have not sunk into the sullenness of despair, it 
has been quite as distressing to the minister of God to see them 
gather up their energies to die with something like manly forti- 
tude, in the entire absence of any religious comfort. 

A few solitary cases, it is true, have come under my notice, 
where, after a severe struggle, which has appeared to render t^e 
last sickness as the agonies of a " double death," the persons 



EFFECT OF REVIVAL EFFORTS. 239 

nave ventured at last upon the atoning blood of the Son 01 God ; 
and we have seen the languid eye brighten, with the expression, 
"My God is reconciled," and thus, at the eleventh hour, they 
have "escaped with the skin of their teeth." Job 19: 20. 

Such death-bed scenes, however, have not been the only places 
where I have learned the dangerous state of many deceived souls. 
Facts the most startling have come before me, in the course of 
my ministry, of persons who had been living long in church- 
fellowship, without any internal religion whatever; but who, 
under the searching truth of God, applied by the Holy Spirit, 
were brought into a state of deep concern, and, after seeking sal- 
vation with many tears, found it to the joy of their hearts. 

I have conversed with vast numbers, who have declared that, 
though they had long sat " under the sound of the Gospel," they 
had never been "born again," — never had known their sins to 
be forgiven; that they had 

"Rested in the outward law, 
Nor knew its deep design." 

Such cases have not failed to awaken my attention particu- 
larly to this class of my hearers. God has impressed deeply 
upon my mind the necessity of dealing faithfully and plainly 
with professors of religion ; and that, at the peril of my future 
account, such must not be overlooked in my appeals to the sin- 
ners of the world. 

And thus have originated those discriminating and pointed 
appeals to the consciences of those who have been intrenched 
for years within the ramparts of my own and other denomina- 
tions ; and results of the most startling and impressive character 
have occurred. To their surprise and horror, many have dis- 
covered that they had not only never got out of the road that 
leads to hell, but positively they had been for years slumbering 
on the very brink of damnation ! 

When such persons were converted, they have generally 
returned to their own churches ; but frequently they have met 
w^tii such a cold reception, both from the minister and members 
of their church, that they have felt it was at the peril of back- 



240 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

sliding from God to remain there. They soon discovered, also, 
that the kind of preaching which satisfied them very well in their 
carnal state had now but little in it that was congenial to the state 
of their new-born souls ; and, with tears, they have returned, and 
requested to be admitted members of the Methodist church. Nor 
could her ministers deny that privilege to a member of another 
church, which they would desire might be extended to any of 
their own members, who should, from religious scruples, leave 
the Methodists, and offer themselves to another denomination. 

As the door of Methodism is open for any of her communi- 
cants to leave her pale, so, in their opinion, that door should not 
be shut, but remain quite as wide open, to receive members of 
other churches, who believe in her doctrines, and who are wil- 
ling to be governed by her discipline. 

It has frequently happened, of late, that members of other 
churches, and persons who merely belong to certain congrega- 
tions, have been brought into a state of alarm about their souls, 
by attending these services. There have been instances where 
they have gone to the minister, and made known the state of 
their minds ; but, instead of pointing them to the Lamb of God, 
and explaining the way of faith, and rejoicing that, by any 
means, they had at last been brought to a sense of their danger, 
my manner of preaching has been held up to ridicule, and they 
have been warned not to hear me any more ! Again and again, 
before they have left that minister's company, he has assured 
them it is all fanaticism for any man to say that an individual 
can know his sins forgiven„in this life. Now, what must be the 
inference drawn in the minds of these anxious inquirers after 
salvation ? What, but, " My minister himself has never been 
converted ; surely all must be doubt and uncertainty in his own 
mind respecting the state of his soul, since he positively denies 
that any person can attain to certainty upon this subject ; else, 
why should he declare that unattainable by me, if he himself 
has received it, seeing it is written, ' God is no respecter of per- 
sons ' ? " It so happens, however, that when the Spirit of God 
is probing the heart of an awakened sinner, such unscriptural 
declarations generally fail to satisfy his conscience. Such tjer* 



EFFECT OF REVIVAL EFFORTS. 241 

sons, notwithstanding various prohibitions from the above quar- 
ter, return to the place where they have been wounded, in hopes 
of finding out the means of a cure for the " wounded spirit." In 
a short time they learn the way of faith, and after resting simply 
and only upon the merits of the atonement, they are freely for- 
given for Christ's sake, and the Spirit of God is sent " into their 
hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Gal. 4 : 6. 

And now, sir, after the great and scriptural change of conver- 
sion has taken place, with a full and conscious knowledge of 
their adoption into the family of God, what do you suppose are 
their views respecting their former minister ? Is it likely they 
would feel very comfortable to return and sit under his ministry, 
where the same things would be repeated, no doubt, again and 
again ? What sort of a reception would such a one receive, 
were he to call upon that minister, and relate what great things 
God had done for his soul ? There have been cases, not a few, 
where a sense of duty has led such new converts to " go show 
themselves to the priest;" but a sense of duty, quite as strong, 
has compelled them to withdraw from his teaching. 

If other denominations oppose these services, and hinder their 
people who are unconverted Trom attending where it is most 
likely they would be converted, then let vigorous exertions be 
made for their salvation in their own place of worship. But if 
they choose to neglect this important duty, and will still use 
their influence to prejudice their minds, or interpose their 
authority to prevent them from hearing the truth, which might 
possibly result in their conversion, to God they are accountable. 
And should these persons lose their souls, in consequence of 
such an interference, I have no hesitation in saying, that they 
will have to account, at the great and dreadful bar of God, for 
the part they had in their destruction. 

I have been charged with " small preaching." This is a 
new phrase to me, but I suppose it means my condescending to 
dwell upon those "minute points" of Christian experience 
usually taken up in a more florid and eloquent style. But have 
you never read that striking sentiment of Galen, In medicina 
nihil exiguum ? " In physic nothing is little." " A little error 
21 



242 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

there," said another, " may occasion fearful mischiefs ; so a 
small mistake in souls' concernments may occasion everlasting 
ruin." An error respecting conversion is ruinous, — damnable, 
if 'the person die in it. "Except a man be born again, he can- 
not see the kingdom of God." This is a decision of tremen- 
dous import. Now, the object to be attained by faithful preaching 
is, to tear away the veil, so that the deluded conscience may be 
enabled to look the deception fully in the face. It is not, how- 
ever, that kind of preaching which you call " eloquent," that is 
adapted to accomplish this. 

As to the charge that revival preaching " has a tendency, in 
nine cases out of ten, only to disquiet and torment sincere 
minds," it requires better proof than that which often accom- 
panies a mere assertion. That a person may be sincere in error, 
I freely admit; but I cannot allow this to be a state of safety. 
It may be nothing more than a treacherous calm before a disas- 
trous storm. " The word hypocrisy," says a writer, " is origi- 
nally borrowed from the stage, and it signifies the acting of a 
part ; and we have heard of a stage-player who acted a part so 
long that he believed himself to be the very person he acted. 
And so I take it to be no extraordinary thing for the religious 
hypocrite to be given up to the same delusion, — to believe his own 
lie ; and having put on religion first for a formality, to believe at 
length that that formality is religion." Is it, then, my dear sir, a 
matter of small importance to endeavor to undeceive such self- 
deceivers? If you refer to such characters in your charge, I 
must, indeed, plead guilty. The direct tendency of my " small 
preaching" is to disquiet such persons; and the sharp crack of 
small fire-arms may be attended with more serious consequences 
than the loud report of cannon in the "far-away distance," 
especially when nothing more is contemplated than the " elo- 
quence" of the flash and the roar. 

If you can point to "many who are sick" of my preaching, 
"and who have been thrown into unnecessary distress by it," 
and some within your own " family circle," I could conduct you 
to many who have been lately cured of their sickness by the 
instrumentality you affect to despise, and who would not now 



EFFECT OF REVIVAL EFFORTS. 243 

for all the world have avoided the knowledge of their sickness, 
which has been succeeded by a consciousness of a perfect cure. 
The medicine, therefore, that has made them sick, may, after all, 
have been best suited to the state of their diseased souls. " But 
it fares," as one has somewhere said, " with faithful ministers, 
as with honest and able physicians, that are many times ill 
thought of by the sick man, and foolish friends, when they put 
him to pain and trouble. They charge him with cruelty, in 
delighting to torment the poor man unnecessarily, and, it may 
be, think of discharging him, and getting a physician that will 
deal more gently with him ; whereas, indeed, he is the sick 
man's best friend, and many times, if he should not pain him, 
he should hill him." 

Perhaps the best way to combat your "serious objections" is 
to place them at once in battle array. 

"These revival operations have a direct tendency to unsettle 
the members of other churches, and to render them dissatisfied 
with their own pastors." Perhaps so ; and would not any good 
pasture-field, near to a neighboring flock, starving, through the 
negligence of the shepherd, upon a bare and barren heath, have 
this tendency? But would any man in his senses present as a 
reason why that good shepherd should be indifferent about a 
luxuriant pasturage for his own flock, lest otherwise he might 
possibly unsettle the arrangements of his neighbors ? Rather 
should he not turn his attention to the slothful shepherd, and 
urge the necessity of bettering the condition of his flock, as the 
only means of making them contented with their own pasturage ? 
It is a silly sheep that would again and again exchange a good 
pasture for a worse. I was reading, the other day, of a minis- 
ter who once preached the Gospel successfully in a certain part 
of Yorkshire, England ; but he was the cause of great vexation 
to the minister of a neighboring parish, who could not restrain 
his church from "running after" the faithful preacher. At 
length, he made the complaint to the 'minister himself, and 
received this reply : " Feed them better, and they will not 
stray." 

" I have heard," you proceed, " that since your arrival in Ire- 



244 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

land, many, in consequence of your movements, have withdrawn 
from their respective churches, and have joined the Methodists." 
A few have done so ; but the majority of those who have been 
converted to God, during the revivals to which you refer, were 
sent back to the churches to which they belonged, and in a 
safer and happier state of mind than when they first visited the 
Methodist chapels. " When Jesus Christ healed the afflicted, 
his constant advice was, ' Go show thyself unto the priest.'" 1 
reply, not always. "Why not send them back to their own 
ministers, if they have received good ? Why not let those who 
have labored so long for their conversion, as they who must give 
an account, hear from their own lips what God has done for 
them ? Why not send such converts back to their own churches, 
and let them declare to their fellow-Christians what they have 
received ? " I can assure you, dear sir, we have frequently 
attended to this very thing; indeed, it is our general rule. That 
there have been cases in which we have been compelled to take 
a different course, I freely admit. The following sentiment, of 
a particular friend of mine, I consider a good apology : " It 
will be conceded that circumstances must, in every case, deter- 
mine as to the propriety of this. In some instances, it would be 
compelling the defenceless lamb to approach a roaring lion ; while 
in others, it would resemble the sending of a new-born infant 
to a mere unparental anatomist, whose only solicitude would be 
for the gust of its dissection." 1 Kings 3 : 26, 27 ; Deut. 27 : 
18; 1 Thes. 2: 7,8. 

" During your proceedings, congregations have been deserted 
by a large number of regular hearers, and I learn they have 
never returned." Beware, lest you color too highly. Where 
there has been anything of the kind, the ministers connected 
with such congregations have had none to blame but themselves. 
They may. thank their own conduct, and their injudicious rail- 
ing against the revival, for such humiliating results. People 
will, in such cases, judge for themselves ; and when they hear 
men reviling what they consider a real work of God, and giv- 
ing credit to reports which they know to be utterly false, it is 
not likely they will sit patiently to hear it ; especially, when it 



EFFECT OF REVIVAL EFFORTS. 245 

is known that their minister has not been at one of those meet- 
ings, in order to hear and judge for himself. 

"I have, myself, heard several of these religious emigrants 
declare they had no religion previous to their going among the 
Methodists." And how do you know they did not speak the 
truth ? If truth, it is not wrong in them to acknowledge the 
fact. If so, had they no cause for thanksgiving to God ? 
"And that they felt it to be their duty to remain among the 
people, who had been the means of what they term their ' con- 
version.''" But, are you sure they were wrong, I will not say in 
the expression, but in their determination to remain where they 
had received so much good? "Not a few of them have impru- 
dently insinuated, in the hearing of some of my friends, that 
their former pastor had never been converted." Perhaps this 
was wrong, — at least, injudicious ; but, are you quite sure it was 
not, in some instances, a mournful truth ? "I am sorry, indeed, 
to admit that some of our clergymen do acknowledge that they 
are not aware of any other regeneration, in their own experience, 
than what they are confident did take place when they were 
baptized in infancy. But w r hat of that? Even a blind man 
may hold a candle to enlighten others, though he himself 
may walk in the dark." Yes! but let him have a light, and 
not a candlestick without one, or a dark lantern ; else he and 
those he would guide may, eventually, " fall into the ditch.'" 
(that is, into hell) together. Matt. 15: 14. "The Sun of 
Righteousness may shine, through the meanest window, upon 
the heart of a hearer, equally well as through one of the cleanest 
and purest material." Ay! but let him be a real window, not 
an imitation; not the mere semblance of a converted minister of 
Jesus Christ; not mere brick-work, and plaster, and paint (to 
carry out your figure), to avoid the tax, and yet keep up appear- 
ances ! From such ministerial windows, good Lord deliver us, 
and all our friends ! Allow me to say, that just such a window 
is every unconverted minister. If the Sun of Righteousness 
should shine through such a man, upon the hearts of his hearers, 
it would be a greater miracle than were the natural sun to send 
21* 



246 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

his beams through those tax-avoiding imitations which amuse 
one in every street. 

You say further, " A leaden pipe may convey the ' water of 
life ' to the souls of the people, quite as well as a golden one." 
Yes, but let it be a pipe, and not a mere mass of lead. If a 
pipe, let it be connected with the fountain ; else it may as well 
be no pipe at all ! Do you understand me ? A sheet of lead 
may be converted into a pipe, and so may a minister; but let him 
le converted ! "A man may see himself in a plain glass as well 
as in one with a gilt frame." Just so, and I have seen my like- 
ness quite as well in one that had no frame at all. But let it be 
glass, and let it be a clean and pure mirror; else it will show no 
likeness at all, or, at most, a false and incorrect one. The soul 
of a regenerated and sanctified minister of the Lord Jesus is 
like his sermons, — a transparent mirror of eternal truth. I 
dare not enlarge upon your figure, lest my letter would extend 
beyond your patience, and the time I have at my command. 

I remember reading the following sentiment, which I very 
much admired at the time, and which, I think, applies to what 
you consider an imperfect ministry : " A pearl may be showed 
forth by a weak hand, as well as by the arm of a giant." True ; 
but that hand should be governed by a discerning and well- 
informed judgment; else it might display these gems in a very 
improper light, or present worthless pebbles, instead of pearls. 

Beware, my dear sir, how you encourage men of whose con- 
version you stand in doubt. " It is a doleful thing," said an old 
divine, "to fall into hell from under the pulpit; but, ah! how 
dreadful to drop thither out of it ! " It is awfully possible for 
ministers to coast the land of promise, like the unbelieving spies ; 
and, like them, have no inheritance therein throughout eternity ! 
He who has taken upon himself the office of preaching the 
Gospel, through sordid and impure motives, has not the chance 
for salvation which other men enjoy. He may be, at one and 
the same time, an incumbent and a cumberer. A speculator in 
preaching he may be, and starve the church of God ; but throw 
off the letter s, as a quaint man said, and you have his true 
character, — a peculator. He may be capable, by his learning 



EFFECT OF REVIVAL EFFORTS. 247 

and talents, of stringing together a number of clever predictions ; 
but, in the "judgment of God," the man »may have no other 
design than the accomplishment of his own favorite predations 
upon the church of Jesus Christ. It is at the imminent peril of 
his soul's damnation, that ati unconverted man casts a covetous 
eye towards the gown and surplice of a dying minister, who has 
been faithful to his God ; or, that he clothes himself therein, 
either for ease, honor, or to earn with worldly credit a piece of 
bread. You have read how JEneas, though he had purposed to 
spare the life of Turnus, yet, when he espied the girdle of Pallas 
about him, changed his mind, and turned the point of his 
sword to his heart. 

It would, therefore, appear, from your own letter, that some 
churches in the nineteenth century are yet cursed with what 
was complained of so earnestly in the seventeenth century: 
" They by whom the streams of heavenly doctrine flow to us are 
of such superabundant charity, that they desire to empty them- 
selves before they are half full ; nay, many, before they have 
any drop of saving knowledge and divine learning, ^are most 
ready to deliver that which they never received, and teach what 
they never learned." Have you never read of that Bithynean, 
whom Lactantius seized for taking upon him to cure dim and 
dark eyes, when he himself was stark blind ? 



CHAPTER VI. 

REVIVALS AND THE TERRORS OF GOD. 

An opponent of revivals has said, "I consider the state of 
these new converts in no other light than that of a state of 
terror." 

But they are really happy; and surely you will allow this 
feeling to be inconsistent with the idea we attach to that little 
English word. 

" Their state is that of high excitement ; a reaction must take 
place, when it is likely they will fall into the opposite extreme." 

Perhaps not. 

" They are merely frightened into a religious life." 

This may be true, and yet it is possible they are converted ; 
and that which was occasioned by "a fright" may last to the 
end of their life. But is it not very remarkable, that they all, 
every one of them, thank God they ever heard the doctrine and 
preaching which "frightened" them out of their sins "into a 
religious life " ? Did not St. Paul declare, that, knowing the 
"terrors of the Lord," he "persuaded men " ? Should you, or 
any servant of God, be displeased, if thousands of these sinners, 
who encompass us on every side, many of them very vile, were 
scared out of their sins, — " frightened" away from the service of 
the devil, into obedience to God ? Does it matter how a sinner 
is brought to repentance, if it only be genuine ? I freely admit, 
the sinner can only be justified in oneway, — through faith in 
the merits of Christ's death ; but I will not allow he can be 
awakened to a concern for his soul in one way only. Facts are 
against such a position. You may, it is true, be among those 
who discard facts, and wish to reason with them ; but it is nei- 
ther philosophical nor scriptural. " The man who writes, speaks, 



REVIVALS AND THE TERRORS OF GOD. 249 

or meditates," says Lord Bacon, " without being well stocked 
with facts as landmarks to the understanding, is like a mariner 
who sails along a treacherous coast without a pilot, or one who 
adventures in the wide ocean without the rudder or compass." 
Weigh well that beautiful passage in the epistle of St. Paul to 
the Corinthians. Lest you should be indisposed to turn to it, 1 
shall quote it for you : " Now, there are diversities of gifts, but 
the same spirit. And there are differences of administrations, 
but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but 
it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifest- 
ation of the spirit is given to every man to profit withal." 1 
Cor. 12: 4 — 7. This is a striking and singularly expressive 
piece of composition, and allows great latitude in the operations 
of the Godhead, in bringing about the salvation of man. 1 
glory in this, that the Gospel of Christ, assisted by the influence 
of the Holy Spirit, is the revealed instrumentality from heaven 
for the conversion of sinners ; but this does not exclude the Lord 
from awakening men to a concern for their souls, by his provi- 
dences, and by his judgments. That they are regenerated by 
these, no spiritual man will assert ; but they may learn right- 
eousness (Is. 26: 9) ; they may be aroused, — " frightened," if 
you please, — into an agonizing concern for their souls by them. 
And far more terrific may be their sensations, under these, than 
if a living preacher were thundering " hell and damnation " in 
their ears from the pulpit. It is not an easy matter to terrify a 
sinner sitting in a comfortable chapel, in good health, and with 
no certain prospect of dying soon ; it is, indeed, utterly impossi- 
ble, unless the Spirit of God, which can alone reach the con- 
science, take hold of the man ; then the thing is done, indeed, and 
effectually. Now, if " a manifestation of the Spirit is given to 
every man to profit withal ; " and if there are " differences of 
administrations, and diversities of operations ; " and "all these 
worketh that one and the self-same spirit ;" would it not be 
wrong to limit the beginnings of these divine manifestations? 
or to deny that the Spirit of God may use the instrumentality 
of various providences and judgments, wielded as they may be 
by the omnipotence of God ? May not such an administration 



250 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

of terror be subservient to a preparation for diversity of gifts; 
among which are " righteousness, and peace, and joy in the 
Holy Ghost " ? 

How can you be ignorant of the fact that the elements of 
terror are frequently used by the Almighty for the conversion 
of sinners; that these are often rendered all-powerful, 

' : To force the conscience to a stand, 
And drive the wanderer back to God " ? 

I was present in the awful and important hour when a most 
powerful revival commenced, under the following circumstances 
and instrumentality: In the town of Burlington, State of Ver- 
mont, United States, we had a small Methodist society. It had 
been in existence several years ; but, having no " house of wor- 
ship," and having to hold their meetings in school-houses, and 
in private dwellings, their influence with the community was 
very limited. A few brethren, assisted by several of the inhab- 
itants of the place, resolved to build a house for God. After 
many painful struggles and sacrifices, the church was completed 
and dedicated. The pastor and his little flock, entering into 
conversation respecting their depressed state in such an import- 
ant town, came to the conclusion, now that they had a church, 
that something should be done towards filling it with regular 
hearers, and also to increase the number of converted members. 
It was resolved, accordingly, to hold a "protracted meeting." 
The prospects of a revival were very problematical to their feeble 
faith. The pastor secured the assistance of several ministers, 
among whom was the writer. Many said, " What can these 
feeble Methodists do ? " We felt the force of the remark, and 
humbled ourselves before God. We had preaching every night, 
but could make no impression upon hardened sinners. One 
night, after a sermon from Eomans 12: 1, — "I beseech you, 
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your 
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is 
your reasonable service," — and just as the congregation was 
retiring, and before we knew of a single case of awakening, and I 
should think before fifty of the audience got out, a most tre- 



REVIVALS AND THE TERRORS OF GOD. 251 

mendous storm of thunder, lightning, and rain, burst over the 
town. The windows of the church were unusually large, and 
they appeared all in a blaze, from the effect of the lightning. 
The mass of the people were arrested in a moment. It was at 
a season of the year when thunder is very seldom heard in that 
country. The storm raged in fury; and one of the preachers, 
a plain young man, began to exhort, and wielded with power 
that passage in the eleventh Psalm, — " Upon the wicked he shall 
rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and an horrible tempest ; this 
shall be the portion of their cup.''' Thus, while God thundered 
and lightened outside, his minister did the same within. It was 
a scene of terror and awful grandeur. Some began to tremble, 
and weep, and pray. At length there was a movement towards 
the ministers, where they were standing at the altar; not to take 
vengeance upon the fiery exhorter, but to cry for mercy from that 
God who was thundering through the heavens, and to seek an 
interest in the prayers of his people. Still the storm continued, 
with peals of loudest thunder, which were reechoed by successive 
bursts of the most impassioned appeals to the consciences of ter- 
rified sinners. Nothing was heard but, — 

" See the storm of vengeance gathering 
O'er the path you dare to tread ; 
Hear the awful thunder rolling, 
Loud and louder, o'er your head ! " 

And all this attended by the deep and subdued groans of sin- 
ners, slain by the sword of the Spirit. This was help in time 
of need. Victory, from the Lord of hosts, was on our side from 
that hour; and the victories achieved by a preached Gospel, 
during the three or four weeks following, amazed the whole 
town. 

" But," you will be ready to inquire, "did not many of these 
go back to their former course of life, after their fright was 
over ? " A few did so ; but a large majority are still living in 
the enjoyment of that grace which "the terror of the storm" 
drove them to seek. A few did, indeed, "measure back their 
steps to earth again." But if this argument be allowed to make 



252 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

against the results of this extraordinary providence, it may be 
wielded equally against the fruits of the " ordinary and sober 
services" of the ordinary ministry of the Gospel. How many 
are constrained to a serious course of life, by all that is mild, 
enlightening, and softening, in a "quiet and peaceful delivery" 
of the Gospel message, — are even converted to God, — and yet 
afterwards relapse into a wicked life ! 

Several of the subjects of the above revival have since 
passed into the eternal world. I visited some of them on their 
death-beds, and the scenes of holy triumph I witnessed there 
were sufficient to convince the most abandoned infidel of the 
truth of religion. That revival is yet remembered by the people 
of Burlington with great interest; and God has since honored 
them with a succession of revivals, into which that church has 
entered with, increased confidence. Such have been the results 
of these divine visitations, that Methodism has arisen to such a 
point of importance in that town, as to enable its friends, a few 
months since, to entertain, during its session, the Troy Annual 
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church. 

I remember another revival, which occurred in the city of 
Montreal, Canada, in the winter of 1S35 ; but its commence- 
ment showed a difference of administration by the same Spirit. 
I had not the privilege of being present during the hour in which 
was displayed this manifestation of the power of God over mind. 
Those who witnessed it informed me that it was a scene of 
overpowering interest. During more than one week they had 
preaching every night. On the evening in question, the dis- 
course was more than usually pointed and solemn. A death- 
like stillness pervaded the large assembly. At the close of the 
sermon, an unexpected influence came down upon the people. 
But, instead of two or three persons manifesting a desire for sal- 
vation, the entire congregation seemed to be moved at once, like 
a forest bending beneath a heavy gale. There was very little 
noise; no shouting or screaming; but many tears and sighs 
among the multitudes ; and strong men bowing themselves, in 
penitential sorrow, before the Lord God of hosts, with earnest 
prayer ; but evidently restraining the deep emotions which agi- 



REVIVALS AND THE TERRORS OF GOD. 253 

tated their souls. When an invitation was given to penitents, 
and they were exhorted to come forward for the prayers of God's 
people, the aisles were speedily filled, all crowding toward the 
communion-rails; rich and poor were seen mingling together. 
I cannot enter into all the particulars; but it was supposed that 
within the short space of four weeks four hundred sinners were 
converted to God. That city, several times since, has been visited 
with revivals of religion. In the year 1827, there was a visita- 
tion of this kind, which resulted in the conversion of two hun- 
dred souls ; and again, in 1841, two hundred found peace with 
God. I had the delightful privilege of being present during 
these three revivals. In all these outpourings of the Holy 
Spirit, that noble and blessed people, with their ministers, local 
preachers, and class leaders, entered into the work with an ardor 
that did them credit, while it showed how highly they estimated 
each previous revival. 

In a certain part of America, surrounded with woods, a min- 
ister of Jesus was preaching the Gospel to a listening crowd. 
A stranger, on horse-back, proceeding through the forest, hear- 
ing the sound of a human voice, paused ; and then, through 
curiosity, approached sufficiently near to hear the truth deliv- 
ered by the earnest preacher; but did not alight. What he 
heard, it seems, made no impression upon his mind at the time, 
and he continued his journey. As he rode along, he began to 
reflect upon the importance of the truth he had just been hear- 
ing. The Spirit of God accompanied his meditations in so 
forcible a manner to his conscience, that he fell from his horse, 
as one dead. How long he lay upon the ground, he could not 
tell ; but, upon coming to his senses, he perceived that a surpris- 
ing change had taken place in his mind. Love, peace, and 
sweet communion with God, had taken possession of his heart; 
he was a new creature in Christ Jesus. Upon looking round 
for his horse, it was gone, and had carried off his portmanteau, 
in which was all his money, etc. Returning upon his track, he 
found the animal entangled by the bridle in a brake, and all his 
property safe. He remounted, and proceeded on his way rejoic- 
ing. When he arrived at a certain town (a place, by the way, 
22 



254 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

notorious for wickedness), he began to proclaim what great 
things God had done for his soul. The people were astounded, 
and considered the man insane, and were about to confine him. 
He told them, with heaven beaming in his countenance, that he 
had never been in the right exercise of his reason till a few 
hours before ; but that now he was in his right mind, and very 
happy in God ; and that they need not give themselves any 
uneasiness about him. He then related the circumstances of 
his conversion, and exhorted them to flee from the wrath to 
come. The power of God attended his exhortations, and many 
gave heed to the things spoken by the stranger ; a revival began 
from that day, and a great number of people were the saved of 
the Lord. 

The particulars connected with the above revival may serve 
as a further answer to the question, " Do all revivals begin in 
the same way ? " Had I time, I could bring forward many other 
remarkable revivals, resulting in the conversion of hundreds of 
sinners, yet all differing in the "phenomena" of their begin- 
nings. I cannot, however, conclude, without referring to your 
a particular views " upon such matters. If you are for calms by 
sea, I am for storms. That you have also " seen some lovely 
scenes by river's brink or sunny dell, in waving woods and 
groves watered by crystal rills," — and that you, and many others, 
have felt the power of God there, and rejoiced in the evidences 
of his goodness, amidst these scenes of tranquil loveliness, — I 
wish not to question ; for I have felt the same, a thousand times, 
myself. Nor shall I dispute that you have had your " intellect- 
ual feasts," and some rich foretastes of heaven, when listening 
to your favorite minister. You describe sea scenery very well ; 
with all its "constant sympathies with yonder sky; crisped 
smiles, luxuriant heavings, and sweet whisperings ! " 

"Hail, splendid picture! molten print! 
Medal of majesty divine ! 
Coinage of heaven's illustrious mint, 
Perpetual currency is thine. 

"And why hath Jehovah, in forming the world, 
With waters divided the land? 



REVIVALS AM) THE TERRORS OF GOD. 255 

His rampart of rocks round a continent hurled, 
And cradled the deep in his hand ?" 

But why did you not add that other verse ? — 

11 What can thy angry strength restrain? 
Deep, rolling, huge, circumfluous form ; 
Swinging in gravitation's chain, 
Boiling and foaming in the storm ! " 

I doubt whether you have ever been out sight of land, to say 
nothing of witnessing the effects of a storm at sea on the minds 
of sinners, as much as I doubt your theory, that " such exhibi- 
tions of elemental wrath" are incapable of making those religious 
impressions that are lasting, and which " tend directly to the 
conversion of the soul." I question whether you have, in the 
course of your life, been able, from close observation, to philos- 
ophize upon such a scene ; as I doubt whether, until very lately, 
you have seen the " elements of terror," within the grasp of 
any minister of God, wielded as they should be for the awak- 
ening and conversion of sinners. But I can testify, from actual 
observation, that conversions, by what you term " the artillery 
of terror," whether elementary, or by the powerful voice of 
a living ministry, have been as real and as lasting as those 
which have occurred amidst the calm of nature, or when the soft, 
persuasive arguments of the Sabbath sermon have won sinners 
to Christ; while they illustrated, at the same time, that fine 
couplet of an elegant poet, — 

"Fit words attend on weighty sense, 
And mild persuasion flows in eloquence." 

You have had your poetic excursion ; now allow me mine. I 
think it most prudent, however, to keep within the territories of 
" nimble prose." When the might of the tempest is let loose 
upon the ocean, and its surface is boiling into foam; when its 
waters are being scooped to the deepest abyss, and the billows 
are heaped to the clouds, "confounding the deep, perplex- 
ing the sky;" when the reeling vessel is tossing to and fro, or 
hanging in straightening suspense upon the billowy precipice, 
and again descending, like an arrow, into the yawning gulf; 



256 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

when the sails are rent from the spars, and the waves have 
obtained a clear passage over the deck, and the masts are shiv- 
ered from the laboring hull, as if shattered by a thunderbolt from 
heaven, — behold the terrified crew and passengers. " They 
mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths ; 
their souls are melted, because of trouble ;" trouble in the con- 
science, as well as trouble from the raging elements. But the 
sense of discomfort from without may have become more endur- 
able than that which is felt within. The fiercest uproar of the 
angry storm may not equal at this time the alarming accents 
of an awakened conscience. The inflictions of that vicegerent 
of God within may strip and wreck the soul with more unfail- 
ing certainty than the repeated onsets of the howling tempest, 
which have left the ship sailless and mastless. The impending 
death of the body; its descent into the wide, insatiable, and 
unsearchable grave of the sea, and the close contact with the 
monsters of the deep, staring through the troubled foam at this 
fresh cargo of humanity, slowly descending to the profoundest 
floors of this dreary cemetery, — ocean's shambles; where mon- 
sters indescribable, which never seek the upper waters, are fed 
with ample supplies of human beings, driven from the regions 
afar ; — alas ! all this may not be so horrible to the soul, at such 
an hour, as the appalling probability of dying in sin, and of a 
descent into the blackness of darkness ; an exchange of a del- 
uge of water for one of fire and pain ; a downward progress 
into the pit that is bottomless ; a dismal and immediate fellow- 
ship with the monsters of hell, the vilest beings that ever walked 
our planet, and a dreadful acquaintanceship with infuriated 
devils ; a full knowledge of the torments of the damned, from per- 
sonal experience ; an identical conjunction with the "worm that 
never dies ;" and a sensible immersion into the " fire that never 
shall be quenched." In a word, the foaming billows, " running 
mountains high," which encompass them on every side, men- 
acing every moment their removal from the wave-washed deck, 
may present no aspect of terror, compared with the waves of 
damnation, described by the eye of faith. 

Behold the horrors of the wreck ! Imagine the Cximax of their 



REVIVALS AND THE TERRORS OF GOD 257 

woes,' — the termination of the appalling catastrophe. The terrors 
of the storm increase. Deep calleth unto deep. The waves seem 
as if lifting themselves to the skies ; and the skies, in their turn, 
as if let down into the abyss. The vessel staggers and plunges 
from wave to wave. A nail starts, a seam opens, the leak 
increases ; when lo ! a bleak and rocky coast is discovered to lee- 
ward, from the foaming brow of an impetuous billow. Hark ! 
Hear the agonizing cry, "Lord, have mercy upon us! Save, 
Lord or we perish ! " 

Here, dear sir, is a scene of excitement far beyond anything 
you have witnessed in these revival meetings. But tell me if 
the Spirit of God may not be there ; and whether this scene of 
terror and despair, by his almighty agency, may not work that 
" repentance which is unto life " just as effectually as under the 
searching appeals of " the Sabbath argument " ? May not a 
dread of hell, and sorrow for sin, and a desire of forgiveness, 
and supplications for mercy, and faith in the blood of the atone- 
ment, be just as genuine, though excited by these terrific cir- 
cumstances, as at a time when the storm is hushed, and the 
glassy surface of the ocean is mirroring its heavenly counter- 
part, and the gallant vessel, under a sweet and gentle breeze, 
in full sail, is speeding her way to the port of her destination ? 

May not the promptings of conscience to " flee from the wrath 
to come," the Spirit's influences, and the intercessions of Christ, 
and the invitations of pardoning love, be just as available, 
through the mercy of God, during such a season of peril as I 
have described, as when nature, in her softest loveliness, is 
encompassing him who in the most quiet seclusion is earnestly 
seeking salvation. 

Take another instance. Think of a time when the storm is 
abroad over the landscape, Weakened as it is by the reign of 
winter ; when it advances to the fury of a hurricane, bearing on 
its wings the hail or the snow. The night has set in with the 
accumulating storm, and the family are housed from the career- 
ing elements. Sheltered as they are from the storm that is 
abroad, is it not natural that they should think of the abodes of 
poverty, the flreless hearth, and scanty covering ; or that they 
22* 



258 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

should sigh for the sailor on the foaming deep; or pity the 
benighted traveller, whom, in imagination, they see exposed to 
the relentless fury of such fearful elements ? Supposing the storm 
to augment, uprooting lofty trees, and shaking to its founda- 
tions the hitherto secure mansion, how easy it is to con- 
ceive a transfer of their concern for others to a consciousness 
of their own immediate danger ; and a rapid turning of their 
anxieties for their personal danger, to the more awful peril of 
their unprepared souls ! May not the uproar of contending 
elements awaken fears quite as exciting as those called forth 
by the alarming accents of an earnest preacher? Are you 
certain that a class of sensations, arising from a sudden view 
of the evil nature of sin, and the hell to which it has exposed 
them, — a desire besides for pardon from that God who is 
now wielding these tremendous elements, — may not be quite 
equal to all you think may be felt under the searching truth of 
God in the sanctuary ? And are you prepared to deny that the 
Spirit of God, on sush an occasion, may lead such persons to 
the repentance and faith which are essential to a change of 
heart ; and all this " quite as evangelical," too, as when a sin- 
ner repents and believes in a meeting where you might hear a 
pin fall, or alone, and surrounded by the charms of a summer's 
landscape ? Nor are you, I would presume, prepared to come 
forward, with arguments and facts, to show that conversions 
which occur under such alarming circumstances are not quite as 
permanent as those you contend for as occurring, in a more 
quiet way. If not, away with all this " cant," that these 
k ' frenzied sermons," and " appalling exposures of hell," and 
" terrific appeals to the passions," can accomplish " nothing 
more than a fright and an excitement, which terminate with the 
occasion, without resulting in regeneration, or any permanent 
good to the subjects of it ! " 

Is it not a fact, that, during the awful visitation of the cholera, 
great multitudes were " frightened " into a reformation which was 
lasting, who, but for a fear of the consequences of that dreadful 
pestilence, would, it is most likely, have continued in their sins ? 
I could name cities where congregations and churches received 



REVIVALS AND THE TERRORS OF GOD. 259 

large accessions, and where proofs the most convincing were 
given that the cholera had produced an excitement which 
resulted in revivals of religion. The cholera was a revivalist, 
then! It preached some tremendous truths, which the Holy 
Ghost condescended to apply. But it was an administration of 
terror; there were appeals to the passions, as well as the judg- 
ment. Very many, in these times of alarm, both in English 
and American towns, were known to have experienced all the 
softening influences of real repentance. Their strong expres- 
sions of penitential sorrow, fervent prayers for mercy, and lan- 
guage indicative of confident peace with God, showed how gen- 
uine was the work wrought in their hearts by the Holy Spirit. 
The happy deaths of a numerous circle of these persons since 
have confirmed the truth of these sentiments. I cannot, there- 
fore, agree with you, that conversions arising " from circum- 
stances of great alarm" are "transitory." It is my opinion — 
and I have had a good opportunity of judging — that the largest 
proportion of persons brought to God, during a great revival such 
as is now going on in this town, hold on their way to heaven more 
firmly than those converted in the ordinary means. Persons who 
are converted in a revival usually, I think, set out with greater 
earnestness and decision than those " brought in" in a more quiet 
and less exciting way. " I have observed," says Mr. Wesley, 
" that few who set out in good earnest go back ; but of those 
who set out coldly, one out of five generally does." 

Allow me, in conclusion, to say, that when you give place to 
these doubtful inquiries, you seem to lose sight of the great 
designs of God, in placing within a minister's reach those "ele- 
ments of terror" revealed in the Bible ; as, also, such element- 
ary visitations and alarming judgments as those to which I have 
referred, and which he himself wields to alarm a world of "wick- 
edness. I need not turn your attention to all the declarations 
of wrath he has uttered against the sinner; but consider that 
great decision from the volume of inspiration, — " When thy 
judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will 
learn righteousness." Forget not that it is " the Holy Spirit of 
God" that gives significancy to those "elements of terror," 



260 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

whether it be the mighty tempest, or " the pestilence that walk- 
eth in darkness, or the destruction that wasteth at noonday," or 
the appeals of " tribulation and anguish, indignation and wrath, 
upon every soul that doeth evil," made by the alarming preacher 
to the sinners of his congregation. And shall the spirit of 
God work in vain ? or shall he suffer tamely his wonderful work 
in the sinner's heart to be neutralized and counteracted ? He 
will not, indeed, touch free agency ; but he is very far from 
being unconcerned as to the permanency of the important work 
begun in the souls of the newly-converted. 



CHAPTER VIL 

REVIVAL EXCITEMENTS. 

In reading the Memoirs of the late Mr. William Dawson, I 
met with the following anecdote : 

Mr. Dawson, it seems, was one day accosted by an individual 
who said he had been present at a certain meeting ; that he liked 
the preaching very well indeed, but was much dissatisfied with 
the prayer-meeting, adding, that he usually lost all the good he 
had received during the sermon, by remaining in these noisy 
meetings. Mr. D. replied, that he should have united with the 
people of God in- the prayer-meeting, if he desired to retain or 
obtain good. "0 !" said the gentleman, "I went into the gal- 
lery, where I leaned over the front, and saw the whole. But I 
could get no good ; I lost, indeed, all the benefit I had received 
during the sermon." 

" It is easy to account for that," rejoined Mr. Dawson. 

" How so ? " inquired the other. 

" You mounted to the top of the house, and, on looking down 
your neighbor's chimney to see what kind of a fire he kept, you 
got your eyes filled with smoke. Had you entered by the door, 
gone into the room, and mingled with the family around the 
household hearth, you would have enjoyed the benefit of the 
fire, as well as they. Sir, you have got the smoke in your 
eyes ! " 

A few years ago, and at a time when the church of God in 
the United States was engaged in a mighty struggle for the sal- 
vation of sinners, — when she was grappling with the powers of 
darkness, and with unconverted thousands, with tremendous 
energy and amazing success, — an ingenious dialogue came out 



262 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

from the press, which had a very good effect upon the public 
mind. 

I am sorry I did not preserve the article. I have forgotten 
the precise language, but I can give you the substance of it. 
Some of the sentiments uttered by one of the characters are, 
indeed, most foolish and irrational ; nor would I insert them, 
but for the necessity of meeting those unreasonable objections 
proposed by the opponents of revivals. It was a supposed dia- 
logue between the Prophet Elijah and an old Carmelite. The 
scene is laid upon the top of Mount Carmel. All around, as far 
as the eye can reach, is desolation. During three entire years 
and six months there had not been a single shower of rain. The 
streams and fountains are all exhausted and dried up. The 
hills and mountains, and vales and woodlands, trees, fields, and 
gardens, are withered, — scorched as by the sweeping fire on a 
western prairie. 

" The earth was made of iron, — heaven of brass ; 
And fissures in the soil were gaping wide 
For the fresh rain that came not ; herbs and grass 
Fell sear and dead, and strewn on every side 
Were yellow leaves ; and buds and blossoms died ; 
And spring to autumn turned, gray without fruit ; 
And night and day went round as wont, yet brought 
No cheering interchange for hopeless thought. 
No dews the eve, no mist the morning gave, 
To slake the craving of the fiery drought. 
Mildew, and death, and desolation wave 
O'er parched hill and dale, like cypress o'er the grave ; 
The wells and mountain springs were dry and dank, 
And Canaan's face became a chaos and a blank ! " 

The herds have perished from the field, and multitudes of the 
inhabitants have slept their last sleep ; the land is full of orphans 
and widows. This is a very bleak picture. Behold yonder 
mountain ! Near to its summit is a man ; but he is prostrated 
upon the earth, pleading with God in behalf of the desolated 
country. It is Elijah the prophet. And, lo ! beside him stands 
an old, hard-hearted, croaking Carmelite. Long has it been since 
a drop of rain has fallen from heaven upon his shrivelled body ; 



REVIVAL EXCITEMENTS, 263 

so long, in fact, that he has arrived at the same contentment (if 
not malignant joy) which many sinners in Zion feel when they 
behold the moral landscape around them, unwatered for years 
by the reviving showers of grace from the throne of God ; when 
the population of sinners is just in the same- wretched condition, 
spiritually, as the material landscape was around Mount Car- 
mel. 

The Carmelite stands in a very anxious attitude, as if depre- 
cating the power of the prophet's prayer. (Indeed, the prophet 
had already told King Ahab, in the old man's hearing, " Get thee 
up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain." 
1 Kings IS: 41.) At a distance is the prophet's servant, 
ascending a higher part of the mountain, in order to get a view 
of the sea; for his master had said, " Go up, now, and look 
toward the sea." Elijah has cast himself again upon the ground, 
with " his face between his knees," — a painful and humiliating 
posture; but perhaps not more so than the position chosen by 
many a minister of God, when pleading with God for an out- 
pouring of the Holy Spirit. The patience of the old Carmelite 
is quite exhausted. " So much praying and groaning " is to him 
intolerable ; and he begins to mingle his gruff sounds with the 
sighs and supplications of the prophet. 

Carmelite. Prophet of God, I am afraid you are praying for 
rain. Now, I am a friend to rain ; but I want it to come in the 
right way, as it ought to come. I have, indeed, been thinking 
seriously that the prophet should beware of what he is doing, 
seeing he cannot secure us against consequences. 

Elijah. Your fears have taken a strange direction. Have 
you no apprehensions for the entire destruction of your country ? 
Lift up your eyes, and behold the desolation ! Tell me if you 
can behold a green thing within the whole range of your vision? 
[Awfully illustrative of the state of thousands of these Leeds 
sinners.] Is not the canopy of death spread over the whole face 
of creation ? If God do not interfere, how terrible must be the 
consequences ! 

[The prophet is much affected, and addresses himself to God 
in earnest and prevailing prayer.] 



264 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

Car. I wish you to understand that I am decidedly in favor 
of rain [a revival], and that I have no desire to see these scenes 
of wretchedness protracted, nor that my country or my fellow- 
men should remain any longer in jeopardy ; but I want such 
rain as our forefathers had. I wish it to come exactly in the 
same way, too, and that it should produce the same delightful 
effects. Long experience has taught me to deplore the evils of 
excessive rain [revivals]. For this cause, I have been griev- 
ously persecuted by the ardent and enthusiastic creatures around 
me, as if I were an enemy to rain [revivals] ; just because I 
have endeavored to show them the evils which proceed from 
certain kinds of rain. 

. Elijah. Deploring the evils of rain ! You have been 
strangely employed, these three years and six months. 

[The servant returns, and tells the prophet, " There is noth- 
ing." " Go again," was the reply, " seven times ; " and the 
prophet falls down again before God in prayer.] 

Car. I saw how anxious the people were for rain. I was 
met with the disgusting and worn-out term [revival] at every 
corner. I have often told them that genuine rain would do ; 
but it must come in the natural and ordinary way, and not by 
these forced measures, as if the noisy uproar of thousands could 
shake the heavens, and bring down rain, whether or no. So, to 
keep them quiet, I set myself about showing them what evils 
rains have done to Israel during years gone by. I have urged 
them again and again to leave the world to the government of 
God, and to mind their own business ; that he would do what 
was right ; and that, if the nation would keep meddling in this 
way with the plans of the Almighty, he might send them rain 
the most ruinous ; that, instead of prayer and all this stir, they 
should wait quietly till God sent it. And now, for these pru- 
dential remarks, the propriety of which none have successfully 
called in question, they have set me down as an enemy to rain 
[revivals] altogether ; and have turned the affair into a plea for 
downright persecution. 

Elijah. Strange infatuation ! 

[The servant returns. The Carmelite, finding the prophet 



REVIVAL EXCITEMENTS. 265 

too intent upon prevailing with God for rain to attend to his 
senseless speculations, begins to address the servant, — conduct 
not unlike that of some during vigorous efforts for a revival. If 
the minister says, " I am doing a great work, so that I cannot 
come down ; why should the work cease, while I leave it and 
come down to you ? " — Neh. 6 : 3, — they will then endeavor to 
weaken the faith, or to perplex and annoy the zealous leaders 
and members of his church.] 

Car. Servant, your master is praying for rain, and you are 
looking for the evidences of its coming ; but we want such rains 
[revivals] as they had in the days of Abraham, Moses, and Sam- 
uel [Wesley, Whitefield, &c] . If he would only pray for such 
rain, I could agree with him. 

Servant. If rain come from heaven at all, must it not be of 
the very same kind as that which fell in the days of these ser- 
vants of God ? Beware how you eulogize the dead prophets, 
while you persecute the living one. 

Car. I can show, in a dozen instances, where modern rains 
[revivals] differ from those in former times, in their effects and 
in their consequences. 

Serv. Stay ; let me go again, and see whether my master 
prevails with God. 

Car. Stay, hear me : I. We want smiling heavens with the 
rain, to inspire men's hearts with joy ; but should your master 
succeed, black clouds will overspread the whole sky. The 
gloom will be dreadful ; nobody; in fact, will have a heart to do 
anything, for looking after this rain. 

II. It absorbs all attention ; nothing, from morning till flight, 
is talked of but rain, rain. I have not .been able to have a 
pleasant conversation with my neighbors upon Mount Carmel, 
for months ; nothing but rain and this Elijah are talked about. 
It is a complete mania. I am disgusted. Young and old are 
clamoring. The very children, who never saw a drop fall from 
heaven, are prattling about rain. What enthusiasm ! I wish I 
could change my residence ; and I would do so but for these 
reasons : 1. I suppose the mania is general all over the country. 
2. My presence here may have some influence in checking this 
23 



266 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

wild enthusiasm ; and, 3. I want to philosophize upon this rain 
and its results, when they appear. 

III. I have some particular friends who think exactly as I do 
upon these subjects. All the little sociable parties, which for- 
merly made society agreeable, are broken up. I have no wish 
the country should be destroyed, for want of good rain ; but I 
want the people to act like rational beings. Nor do I wish to 
see society split and rent by these commotions. But I see what 
the end is to be ; all cannot see alike, nor be equally enthusias- 
tic about rain [a revival]. Thjs mania — I can call it nothing 
else — is bringing about divisions, very fast. It has begun its 
operations in families ; wives and husbands, parents and chil- 
dren, masters and servants, are divided upon this matter. These 
hot-headed fanatics will rend the nation in twain, as they are 
splitting the society in our neighborhood into pieces. Such 
fault-finding, and charging people with sins they have never 
committed, — just as if the heavens could not have a dry sea- 
son without its being occasioned by the sins of the people ! Your 
master, it seems, has converted King Ahab himself to be as wild 
about rain as any of them. He is preparing to return to his 
capital, post-haste, expecting abundance of rain, when there is 
not a cloud to be seen, and the heavens are blue and bright ; — 
no more signs of rain, except an increased uproar among the 
people, than there was this time last year. It is a sad thing 
when great men lend their influence to such fanaticism. Ahab 
was once a wise king ; but Jezebel, however, still retains her 
good sense. And behold the prophet ! He is about to kill him- 
self, in his efforts for rain [a revival] ; as if he could bring it 
before the appointed -season ! 

IV. Again : In seasons of extraordinary rain, many clouds dis- 
charge themselves at once. Kivers are suddenly swollen, leave 
their channel, and overflow the hitherto pleasant vale ; indeed, 
they often sweep away flocks and herds and grain. It is even 
dangerous to live in the vicinity of Carmel at such times, 
owing to the higher lands settling, and sliding down upon the 
rich pastures beneath. 



REVIVAL EXCITEMENTS. 267 

Serv. I think you have had little trouble in that way, during 
the last few years. 

Car. I am speaking now of what we may expect, if the prophet 
obtain his request. But I must proceed. Gusts of wind attend 
modern rains ; indeed, such tornadoes, that houses are unroofed, 
and trees overturned. Frequently, the lightning and thunder 
are terrific. Many a tall and handsome tree I have seen shat- 
tered to pieces. But this is not all. If tenements have not been 
thrown down or unroofed, they have been so rent and torn as to 
become leaky, greatly to the injury of the health and comfort 
of the inhabitants. Indeed, I have known people who have been 
killed outright. Families have been broken up. 1 cannot tell 
you one half of the evils arising from late rains [revivals], with 
lightning and thunder. ' I have said nothing about the noise. 
At such times one can scarcely think, much less hear any one 
speak. Rain, lightning, and thunder, are almost synonymous. 

Serv. 0, no. You are getting too much excited, I fear. 

Car. Remember, I have lived much longer than you ; you 
are but a young man yet. Now, it is a fact, that when we have 
no rain [revivals], we have none of these strange noises and 
disturbances. I have known the very ground tremble beneath 
its peals and extravagances. We generally know the evil is 
approaching, when this phenomenon occurs. Perhaps lightning 
and thunder [powerful preaching and mighty praying] bring 
down rain ; I cannot tell. 

[The servant goes to the mountain peak, and returns ; Elijah 
continues in fervent prayer.] 

Car. These rains come so often out of season — at the very 
time we do not want them. During summer, rain will fall upon 
the ripe fruit and mown grass, and upon the hay when nicely 
dried, and upon the grain, as well as upon the pasture-field. If 
it would rain where it was most wanted, I should not have a word 
to say; but why give those places a superabundance which 
have enough already ? 

Serv. Pause, Carmelite ; I must hasten to my post of observ- 
ation. My master, you see, is deeply affected. 

Car. I shall ascend with you ; I cannot endure all this pray- 



268 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

ing ; I wish he were of my mind, and he would take the mat- 
ter more easily. 

Serv. I question whether you are much at ease in your own 
mind, any more than the prophet. 

Car. It is not to be wondered at. I have seen so many 
evils arising from these things, that I cannot look upon the 
prophet without concern. Think, for instance, of the effects of 
rain [revivals] upon the poor. I have known many laboring 
men kept within doors by rain, when their families have been 
almost starving. Others, not a few, have spent their evenings in 
doing nothing but talking about rain. Ay! and when they 
should have been asleep, too ; then they would have been better 
prepared to work for their masters : yes, and pay their lawful 
debts. Even you, yourself, would be much better employed, if 
you were about other work, than thus running yourself out of 
breath, up and down this mountain, looking for rain; and you 
might, in my opinion, be doing more good in the world. 

Serv. I am aware hard climbing does not suit you. Allow 
me, however, to say, I am in the employ of a good master, who 
pays me liberal wages ; nor will he ask you or your party to 
assist him in defraying expenses. 

Car. These rains [revivals] nourish noxious weeds, thorns, 
thistles, and brambles. Behold, how clean the fields are now ! 

Serv. Yes, but the wheat also has been all parched up and 
destroyed ! 

Car. I am not speaking of wheat now ; but, as you are on 
that subject, I will tell you what I have seen in relation to 
wheat. 

Serv. But can wheat grow, if totally deprived of rain ? Has 
wheat no dependence upon moisture ? Can the moisture remain 
in the fields, unless recruited by rain ? Is there anything of the 
kind in the weedless and grainless fields which now draw your 
admiration ? 

Car. I cannot answer all your objections ; but in rainy sea- 
sons [times of revival] I have noticed that there is chaff — much 
chaff. Now, if it be good rain, why not make the wheat grow 
without chaff. But the chaff —worthless ingredient! — has 



REVIVAL EXCITEMENTS. 269 

always, since the beginning of my observations upon such mat- 
ters, been in close connection with wheat. Have you ever 
found a grain of wheat [a new convert] produced by these mod- 
ern rains [revivals] without chaff along with it ? I have stood 
by many a threshing-floor, and could not but be annoyed and 
surprised at the overseer and his threshers, to see their eyes 
sparkling with joy, because of the immense bulk of what they 
called " a heap of wheat," when I knew (and they could not 
but have known) that the greater part of it was chaff. 

Serv. Certainly, they were better off in those days than we 
are now ; for, surely, it was better to have a little wheat, amidst 
much chaff, than to have none at all ! Besides, the chaff could 
be easily separated from the wheat, and was so, doubtless, in 
due time. 

Car. Ay ! That is what I want to impress upon you. It 
was on this account I pitied them, because I knew there was no 
foundation for such self-congratulations. And when I warned 
them of the deception, and foretold that the heap would be 
reduced more than one-half at the winnowing and sifting time 
[reaction after the revival], some paid no attention, others set 
me down as envious at the successes of others, and a few whis- 
pered that I was jealous of my own credit as a farmer ; and 
some insinuated that I was an enemy to good wheat altogether, 
which was most unreasonable. However, I was patient, and the 
sifting season did come. Because you know there is always, 
after these modern rains, a winnowing time ; when the chaff 
and the wheat are both held up in one sieve, and then to see 
how dissimilar their fall, — the wheat reaching the floor, and 
but very little of it, while the chaff was carried quite away. 
Ay ! that was the time for me ! Then I could talk with my 
enemies in the gate, and prove my discernment and prudence by 
facts the most undeniable. 

Serv. It is well if you did not rejoice at the humiliation of 
your industrious neighbors. Tell me, had you any desire that 
there should have been less chaff in the day of trial ? 

Car. There may be pride in the activity of a farmer, as in 
any other employment ; and I like to see proud, positive, and 
23* 



270 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

self-willed people humbled. Facts, too, are worth knowing ; and 
I always state them to those who seem anxious for extraordi- 
nary rain. 

Serv. It is well, however, to remind you, how little business 
you have had of that kind during the last three years. The 
threshing-floors of Israel have, of late, I am sorry to say, 
afforded little chance for such speculations. There is not a 
farmer at present in Israel, I venture to say, who would not be 
willing to have a " heap " upon his floor, although the third part 
of it were chaff. 

Car. My remarks, of course, apply to past years, before we 
were visited with this clear, invigorating weather, which you 
denominate a dangerous drought. Besides, you cannot deny 
that the farmers have been far more industrious in ploughing 
and sowing than when we had such torrents of rain ; and I may 
add, they have had access of late to very low lands for agricul- 
tural purposes. 

Serv. They have sowed much, but gathered little ; there has 
been no parade of harvest labors of late years, nor, indeed, any 
period distinguished as the harvest. 

Car. Modern rains [revivals] are transient in their influence ; 
in a few days or weeks, the ground is as dry as ever. 

Serv. In that case, another shower is needed. [Here the 
servant is on the tip-toe of expectation, looking very earnestly 
toward the sea.] 

Car. You have been speaking of the necessity of another 
shower; but there you fall into a great mistake. Had we* rain of 
the right kind, the benefits would not pass away so soon. The 
health of the citizens, too, would be improved. There are many 
widows, of late, in Israel. 

Serv. But nineteen out of twenty have become widows since 
rain has ceased to fall. 

Car. If men could only be persuaded to dwell upon the top 
of Gilboa, where there is neither dew nor rain [no revivals of 
Teligion], what health and vigor would they enjoy; and be free, 
also, from all this din and persecution about rain ! But 



REVIVAL EXCITEMENTS. 271 

[Here the servant interrupts him, by pointing to a little cloud 
rising out of the sea]. 

" Saw ye not the cloud arise, 
Little as a human hand ? 
Now it spreads along the skies, 
Hangs o'er all the thirsty land. 
Lo, the promise of a shower, 
Drops already from above, 
But the Lord will shortly pour 
All the spirit of his love! " 

Car. Horrible ! We shall have nothing, by and by, but con- 
fusion worse confounded. 

•Sen?. It is just as the prophet told Ahab; there is a sound 
of abundance of rain. 

Elijah and his servant hurry down from the mount ; and the 
old Carmelite hastes to his cave, to brood over the evils of rain 
[revivals], and the delusions of the people. 

The winds are howling, the lightnings are playing, and the 
thunders roaring through the vault of heaven. The rain is 
descending far and wide over the thirsty landscape. The pulse 
of life throbs once more through the arteries and veins of reviving 
nature. The drooping plants lift up their heads; the flowers 
bloom as if by miracle, and spread their fragrance all around ; 
while the withered trees freshen into green, and wave royally 
their leafy branches on high. 

The Carmelite continues in his cave, while thousands are 
rejoicing in the abounding mercies of a benevolent God. 

Weeks and months have passed away; the landscape looks 
like a new creation, and one smile of universal joy plays upon 
the renovated cheek of nature. But none of these things move 
the old Carmelite. He is out, the first fair day, plodding along, 
with his head down, yet on the look-out (or facts. Nor does he 
notice the innocent flowers [new converts] blooming around his 
footsteps, nor the green foliage of the trees, nor the revived 
appearance of the cedars of Lebanon [effects of the revival upon 
the church], nor the verdant meadows and pasture-fields, where 
creatures are sporting themselves, exul erant in all the happi- 



272 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

ness of which their natures are capable ; nor the boundless fields 
of grain, wide waving over hill and dale, rich in the cheerful 
promise of an abundant harvest. The cheerful voices of many- 
people ring out oni:he air in songs of thanksgiving to the God of 
Israel ; but he hurries on, with a mind filled and running over 
with philosophical musings. But whither is he going? From place 
to place, to see whether the streams have kept their proper chan- 
nels; and if the low lands have not been injured ; what houses 
have been unroofed, or have become leaky ; whether any persons 
have been terrified out of their senses by the thunder and light- 
ning [alarming preaching] ; or, if any quarrels or dissensions 
have arisen in families because of differences of opinion about 
the rain [revival]. The state of general health is an object of 
interest, of course; in a word, he is out collecting facts, that by 
them he might cool down the enthusiasm of the population for 
rain [revivals]. 

Finding himself very unsuccessful with the people, although 
he found quite enough to satisfy his own mind on the subject, 
he returned to his cave, to await with some impatience the results 
of the harvest. 

Time, that brings everything else in its season, brought this 
event also ; so, staff in hand, he paid a visit to all the farms 
[churches and classes], that he might view the heaps on the 
threshing-floors, and thus be enabled to give some friendly hints 
respecting chaff; and to lift his prophetic voice as to the results 
of winnowing and sifting. And no man ever looked so con- 
tented nor so wise, as when he saw the chaff fly in all directions ; 
although he repeatedly declared he was sorry to see the disap- 
pointment of his neighbors [the reaction after the revival]. 

He revisited them all, to sympathize with them in their mis- 
fortunes : but, to his surprise, he found the farmers all very 
happy ; it was a time of general rejoicing, in fact, each con- 
gratulating the other, that their heaps of clean, pure wheat had 
not been so large for very many years ; that during the last three 
years of drought, instead of having heaps of increase, to compare 
with those of the harvest just celebrated, they had had nothing 
of the kind, by which to institute anything like a comparison. 



REVIVAL EXCITEMENTS. 273 

This circumstance rather perplexed the old Carmelite ; but 
prejudice is an ingenious feeling. He suggested that, by the 
time the next harvest came round, there would be little of this 
kind of wheat left. But the agriculturists assured him that the 
wheat was of the very first quality ; that some, it was likely, 
would be sent off to supply deficiencies on other farms [churches 
and classes at a distance], and some would be shipped off to 
other countries ; but that it was not their intention, by the help 
of God, to let three years pass, as during the last drought, with- 
out a harvest. They informed him of their intention to plough 
and sow again, and that already they had begun to make larger 
preparation than ever for another harvest ; that they had better 
wheat, to begin with, — more experience, also ; and God was now 
propitious; he would, they were sure, give them the early and 
latter rain [a succession of revivals], and the appointed weeks of 
harvest. The old Carmelite, convinced in himself that they were 
incurable, left them in their glory, and returned to his cave, 
mourning over the delusions, stubborn prejudices, and miseries 
of mankind. 

And now, dear sir, you cannot fail to see yourself in the char- 
acter of the old Carmelite. I have incorporated in the above 
dialogue some of the most prominent objections against reviv- 
als ; and I wish you could as clearly see their worthlessness, 
and as heartily disapprove of them, as you do those of the old 
Carmelite against rain. 

There are a few other objections, which I might, perhaps, have 
noticed, had it been evident you had studied that famous verse 
of Horace : 

" With touch so soft, so tender of his friend, 
He handled every fault which he would mend : 
That the calm patient, with a smile, endures 
The playful hand, which pleases while it cures." 

There is one which relates to myself, not unworthy of notice, 
" Such frequent preaching must necessarily become superficial, 
and vapid in the extreme." 

The best reply I have at hand is the following, once given 



274 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

by an aged divine : " ' Better one excellent sermon,' says an 
objector, ' than many mean and ordinary. One border of true 
pearl is worth more than a thousand glass or sophisticate stones ; 
one picture drawn with true and rich colors is more valuable 
than many slubbered over with slight wash colors.' I grant it; 
and, it were to be wished, that they who preach but seldom did 
it always more accurately, and with power, that the defect in 
the number might be supplied in the weight of their sermons ; 
but certainly experience shows the contrary. Water, you 
know, corrupts in the conduit, if it be so stopped as either to run 
not at all, or but sparingly ; the golden spouts, my friend, which 
adorn the temple, and which run most frequently and fully, 
yield the sweetest and most wholesome supply of water ; and, 
St. Basil observes the like of wells, — that they grow better, the 
more water is drawn out of them. However, considering the 
dulness of hearing, mean capacity, and brittleness of memory of 
all, I wish those that are of most eminent gifts to dispense the 
mysteries of salvation were to preach more frequently than they 
usually do, with all due respect to their plea, — accurate prepar- 
ation ; because Cato spoke truly when defending himself for 
distributing silver among his soldiers, whereas other captains 
bestowed gold on them, — ' It is better that many should carry 
away silver than a few only gold.' " 



CHAPTER YIII. 

OF CONFUSION IN BEVIVAL PRAYER-MEETINGS. 

Do you remember the sentiment of a certain baronet respect- 
ing the Rev. Geo. Whitefield? Said he to a friend, "Mr. B., 
after all that has been said, this Whitefield was truly a great 
man, — he was the founder of a new religion." 

" A new religion, sir ! " exclaimed Mr. B. 

" Yes," said the baronet, " what do you call it ? " 

"Nothing," rejoined the other, "but the old religion revived 
with energy, and heated as if the minister really meant what he 
said." 

Please procure the printed Journal of the Rev. John Wesley, 
and compare what is there recorded, as having occurred under 
his own ministry, with the revival of religion now in progress 
in this town. When you have done this, then inquire of 
your own conscience ; and if that be asleep, ask your memory 
whether the stranger from America has introduced a " spurious 
kind of Methodism into Hull." Be candid; and I have no 
fears that the decision will be anything else than — This is 
old Methodism revived with new energy. Mr. Wesley did not, 
it is true, approve of all the scenes which took place in some of 
his meetings; neither was he "surprised" that the tremendous 
truths he had uttered produced effects so powerful ; but he did 
not absolutely attempt to put down what some considered con- 
fusion and enthusiasm ; he managed and controlled it, as did 
also his preachers, so as to retain the good, and avoid, as far as 
possible, the evil. That letter, written from Manchester, to Mr. 
Wesley, by one of the preachers, was nothing more than an echo 
of the sentiments of Mr. Wesley himself. " Indeed, we have had 
sometimes more noise than I liked ; but I durst not pluck up the 



276 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

tares, for fear of destroying the wheat. I have, therefore, thought 
it best to leave the whole with God ; thinking it much better to 
have a little false fire mixed with the true, than to have none at 
all."* 

You say, " I certainly thought they were engaged in a row, or 

fight, in the band-room of chapel, the other night." 

So did a father, on hearing a great noise as he approached his 
home. "I thought," said he, afterwards, "my family were 
fighting and killing each other ; " but, on going in, he found his 
daughters upon their knees, pleading in agony for the salvation 
of their souls. He also prostrated himself before God, and joined 
them in prayer, till one of them was filled with peace and joy, 
through believing. Did you go in to see what the matter was ? 
and when you discovered the real cause of " the uproar," did 
you sympathize with distressed sinners? did you fall down 
before God in the midst of them, and pray for the opening of 
the prison to those who were bound? that those who were 
mourning in Zion might have beauty for ashes, the oil of joy 
for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness ? 
Isaiah 61:3. If you did not thus pray, when you had an 
opportunity, — and if, instead, you walked away, despising in 
your heart those who did, — I cannot consider you worthy of the 
name of " a Methodist." I think an old American Quaker had 
a proper and scriptural view of what you term " revival noise." 
A company of ministers were on board a steamer, on their return 
from a place where there was a remarkable revival of religion. 
As they proceeded on their voyage, the conversation turned upon 
the revival. It was generally admitted there was much real 
good being done, and that very many sinners were converted, 
and a large number were returning to God as true penitents ; 
but most of the party reprobated the noise and confusion which 
attended it. After a few had expressed their disapprobation, in 
terms sufficiently strong, they appealed to the Quaker, not 
doubting that he would coincide with their sentiments ; but, to 
their surprise, he told them he did not wonder at all at the 
noise, allowing that the Holy Spirit was, indeed, hewing down 

* See Methodist Magazine for 1783. 



OF CONFUSION IN REVIVAL PRAYER-MEETINGS. 277 

sinners, and preparing them to take their places in the spiritual 
temple. "Now," he continued, "you may remember, when 
Solomon began to build a temple to the Lord, timber had to be 
hewn in the forest, and stone quarried out and chiseled, accord- 
ing to the form required. Was there no noise during this pro- 
cess, think ye ? Ay ! and it must have been tremendous, when 
the lofty pines and other trees were prostrated to the ground by 
the repeated blows of the axe ; — and in such great numbers, too, 
in all parts of the forest. What a wonderful noise, too, when 
they were getting out the stone, and when hundreds and thou- 
sands of workmen were imparting to them their proper form and 
polish by hammer and chisel ! All this, you are aware, my 
friends, was only the work of preparation ; but, when they came 
to erect the temple, there was no noise, — no, not even the 
sound of a hammer; — all was quietness and silence then." 

Now, my dear sir, had you been present at the select meeting 
for the new converts, a few weeks since, when all those were 
collected together who had been converted several weeks pre- 
viously, and over whom there had been so much noise at the 
time of their conversion, you would have enjoyed a fine illustra- 
tion of the old Friend's sentiments. There was, indeed, " quiet- 
ness and silence ; " and it presented a wide contrast to that storm 
of human voices, and loud outcries of agonized sinners, of which 
you so bitterly complain. 

It is said there is a great deal of apparent confusion in South 
America, in those places where the negroes are engaged in scoop- 
ing up sand from the bottom of rivers ; which a stranger, not 
understanding, would be ready to pronounce "a worthless 
employment, and a scene of positive confusion." Let him, 
however, be informed that there is much gold mixed with these 
sands ; and, in the course of a few weeks, let him visit the same 
place, and be shown numerous little heaps of gold, which have 
been separated from this worthless sand, by the laborious efforts 
of these hard-working and industrious men, — and you will not 
question that a great change must take place in his opinions. 
We had, I am glad to say, very many " heaps of pure gold," on 
the night referred to ; as many, in fact, as encompassed the altar 
24 



278 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

again and again, many times. But you were not there, I sup- 
pose ; therefore, not having seen the gold, — only the dark and 
meaningless sand, — " much noise and disorder, proceeding from 
a confused mass of excited people," ■ — your opinions remain 
unchanged. 

When I was in the city of Cork, a few months since, we had 
a very gracious outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Many sinners 
were deeply awakened, and were found upon their knees plead- 
ing for mercy at every meeting. At such times, when the 
penitential sorrow of some was turned into joy, and they were 
praising God, with joyful voices, for deliverance from conscious 
guilt, others were roaring aloud by reason of the disquietness 
of their heart. Psalm 38 : 8. Consequently, there was a great 
noise ; and some, like yourself, were much offended. One of 
these gentlemen came, on a certain day, to an aged class-leader, 
who, in consequence of his infirmities, was not able to appear 
with his brethren as formerly on the field of conflict. The 
visiter, perhaps, interpreted his absence from the meetings to 
dislike, or want of confidence in the movement, and, therefore, 
expected that his own prejudices would certainly meet with 
sympathy. To him, therefore, he went, and made his complaint, 
concluding with the remark, "I believe all these American 
preachers like abundance of noise." The following was the 
reply, in substance : 

" Suppose, my friend, you were about to build a house, and 
you should employ me to quarry stone sufficient for the intended 
edifice. Well, I and my men go to work with crow-bars, pick- 
axes, wedges, and hammers, — all are employed ; but, finding 
the rock very hard, and scandalized with such a small heap of 
stone, after all our labor, I consult with my men whether we 
had not better adopt some more effectual measures to separate 
the rock. The result is, — and we are all agreed, — that it is 
going to be a losing concern, unless I would permit them to try 
the effects of gunpowder. To this I agree, and, after several 
days' hard boring, we succeed in getting one good blast, and 
then another, — in short, a succession of them. At length, 
who should appear but yourself, in great agitation, exclaiming, 



OF CONFUSION IN REVIVAL PRAYER-MEETINGS. 279 

• James Field ! what means all this ? I insist upon it, you shall 
put an end to this unearthly noise ; neither myself nor family 
can bear it. It is, in fact, most outrageous. The whole neigh- 
borhood is in a stir. That I want stone for my house, I admit ; 
but I don't want it at the expense of such a horrible uproar.' 
Now, what think ye would be my answer ? What, but this ? 
1 You have employed me, sir, to quarry out stone for your build- 
ing. You have no right to interfere with me, so long as I injure 
no one, nor damage any person's property, and while I procure 
you first-rate stone. I have had, indeed, to resort to powder, in 
consequence of the hardness of the rock, and we have had a 
shaking time. Behold the execution ! examine the material. 
These ten or a dozen blasts have done more than my men could 
have accomplished, in their ordinary operations, with crow-bars, 
&c, during six months ; and we have only been a few days at 
the work.' Now, my friend, you have good sense enough to 
apply this illustration to the present revival of pure religion in 
Cork. That there is a noise, I shall not question ; but look at 
the results. The great end of all preaching is now being 
realized ; the Gospel of Jesus Christ is producing its distinct and 
appropriate effects, in the awakening and conversion of sinners. 
That these powerful blasts are attended by a corresponding 
noise, is not to be doubted ; and it is equally true, that not a few 
are offended and do grumble exceedingly ; but a tremendous 
execution is being done in the quarry." The fault-finder, if he 
was not convinced, was silent, and made his exit. 

I understand the design of such appellatives as "fanatics, 
enthusiasts, madmen," &c. These names are fastened upon 
some of the zealous servants of God, for the same purpose that 
the skins of wild beasts were put upon the primitive Christians 
by their persecutors, that they might the more readily be torn in 
pieces by the hungry lions in the arena of the amphitheatre ; 
but they were Christians still, notwithstanding these deforming 
skins ; and so are we, though he and his friends cover us from 
head to foot with the hideous imputations of fanaticism, &c. 

An individual once said, that there was a gentleman men- 
tioned in the nineteenth chapter of Acts of the Apostles, to whom 



280 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

he was more indebted than to any man alive ; — the town-clerk 
of Ephesus, whose council was, to do nothing rashly. It is also 
stated of the same person, that when any proposal of consequence 
was made to him, his usual reply was, "We will first advise 
with the town-clerk of Ephesus." Hasty sayings and rash 
doings may, perhaps, be followed by a tedious repentance. To 
all the enemies of revivals have said, I oppose the sentiment 
contained in the following story : William II., when standing 
upon some rocks in North Wales, saw the coast of Ireland, and 
exclaimed, " I will summon hither all the ships of my realm, and 
with them make a bridge to attack that country." This threat, 
it seems, was reported to Murchard, Prince of Leinster, who 
paused a moment, and then inquired, " Did the king add to this 
mighty threat, if God please ? " Upon being assured the king 
made no mention of God in his speech, he replied, " rejoicing in 
the prognostic," says the historian, " Sure that man puts his 
trust in human, not in divine power ; I fear not his coming." 
But, some time after, William was shot by a Frenchman, in the 
New Forest, Hants. 

I always feel myself quite safe in a revival. I am doing the 
Lord's work with all my might ; let them injure me in that 
employment, if they can or dare. As for this species of persecu- 
tion, I do not value it a straw. If our zeal is but enkindled, it 
may be raised into a brighter blaze by these blasts of contradic- 
tion. 



CHAPTER IX. 

ADVICE TO AN INQUIRER. 

You are really ingenious in ferreting out difficulties in the 
way of giving your heart to God. The poor heart is " divided 
and subdivided" upon many things, and subjected, too, to so 
many " anatomical dissections," and agitated by such a variety 
of " contraries" that the owner of it is at her wit's end, not 
knowing what to do. Now it is hard, — again it is deceitful ; it 
is willing now, — then again unwilling; at one time upon the 
point of yielding, and at another there is a reserve that is insur- 
mountable ; it must be subdued first, and pride cast out, and a 
thousand good properties infused, before it is fit to be offered 
wholly to the Lord. And so discouragements crowd upon the 
soul, and difficulties tread upon the heels of difficulties, and 
what will become of my friend, for she is quite incapacitated to 
make the surrender ? God asks the whole heart, and requires 
her to bring it to him in true simplicity. But poor Martha is 
careful and cumbered about many things ; but one thing is need- 
fid — to offer her hard, tossed, troubled heart to Him who asks 
it, just now, even to God her Saviour. Lord, help her ! O woman, 
why tarriest thou ? See, thy Lord is just now ready to help 
thee, and to receive thy offering, and pronounce a blessing upon 
thee, although the heart which is offered be only worth two 
mites, which make a farthing. Only say, as you offer it, — 

" Small as it is, 'tis all my store ; 
More shouldst thou have, if I had more." 

" The Master is come, and calleth for thee." Arise ! Thy 
Lord is just now ready to help thee. His hands are full of 
blessings ; his heart is full of love. In him all fulness dwells ; 
enough, surely, for thee, to fill thy heart with all good things. 

24* 



282 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

He sends the rich empty away. My friend is poor, having 
nothing to pay ; but is she not proud also ? She is unwilling 
to come as a poor nothing, pressed down with poverty, deep 
poverty of spirit, and buy wine and milk, all the rich blessings 
of the Gospel, without money and without price ; only that she 
just offers her heart, which she has pronounced to be " worth- 
less," and which, on that account, she is ashamed to offer. 

Still, she cannot but offer it ; " deep necessity " impels ; but 
then she desires to offer it in the best manner, and in as good a 
state as possible, so that it may be somewhat worthy of her 
Lord's acceptance. And so she is cumbered with much serving; 
and so the heart is not offered at all, or in an improper spirit. 
She forgets that Jesus is to do all. Her work is simply to 
present the gift, the heart ; his work is to accept, to qualify, and 
to bless. The man who brought his son to Christ did not first 
endeavor of himself to cast out the devil, but he brought him 
as he was. Satan raged, threw the lad down and tare him ; 
nevertheless Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, 
and delivered him to his father. Luke 9: 42. My friend 
wants to do the Lord's work, and her own also. Her Lord is, 
therefore, displeased; perhaps chides, and, it may be, chastises 
her. At any rate, he suffers her to be corrected by her own 
" evil reasonings ;" he does not bless her, and so she is unhappy. 
May my God bless Martha ! Make her a little child. When 
turning over my papers, the other day, I lighted upon a few 
verses which I extracted, several years ago, from the pages of an 
old poet. They are now lying on my table. Surely, I thought, 
when taking my pen to indite this letter, that ingenious pro- 
duction may assist my friend to obey the injunction of her 
Lord : " Give me thine heart." Prov. 23 : 26. I shall send it 
her. There are a simplicity and sincerity in the sentiments, 
which I really wish, she would endeavor to imitate. 

'"my son, give me thine heart.' 
"Give thee mine heart? Lord, so I would, 
And there 's great reason that I should, 

If it were worth the having ; 
Yet sure thou wilt esteem that good, 
Which thou hast purchased with thy blood, 
And thought it worth the craving. 



ADVICE TO AN INQUIRER. 283 

" Give thee mine heart ? Lord, so I will, 
If thou wilt first impart the skill 

Of bringing it to thee : 
But should I trust myself to give 
Mine heart, as sure as I do live, 
I should deceived be. 

" Should I withhold my heart from thee, 
The fountain of felicity, 

Before whose presence is 
Fulness of joy, at whose right hana 
All pleasures in perfection stand, 

And everlasting bliss ? 

" Lord, had I hearts a million, 
And myriads in every one, 

Of choicest loves and fears, 
They were too little to bestow 
On thee, to whom I all things owe ; 
I should be in arrears. 

11 Yet, since my heart 's the most I have, 
And that which thou dost chiefly crave, 

Thou shalt not of it miss : 
Although I cannot give it so 
As I should do, I '11 offer it, though : 
Lord, take it, — here it is!" 

In answer to your "queries," I would just say: — There are 
three offices which belong to the Holy Spirit, and which are 
exercised most frequently among men, — to convince, to reprove, 
and to comfort. The first two are performed chiefly in impeni- 
tent sinners, and tardy impenitents, — He reproves the world of 
sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. John 16: 8 — 11. But 
even in a certain class of believers these offices are exerted with 
considerable energy. He convinces of indwelling sin, reproves 
for its continuance, as well as for tardiness in approaching that 
fountain which was opened for sin arid for uncleanness. There 
is a third office to be accounted for, — to comfort. To many 
he comes with some of his consolations, but only " as a way- 
faring man ivho tarrieth but for a night ; " he is soon sinned 
against, and grieved away. Besides, in my opinion, it is not the 
desire of the Spirit to render that heart too comfortable and 



284 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

happy, in which sin is allowed to exist. It is in the holy heart 
only where the Holy Ghost is the abiding Comforter. John 
14: 16, 17—26. The Holy Spirit enters the temple of an 
unholy heart, I have frequently thought, as Jesus Christ did 
into the temple *at Jerusalem ; he enters with " a scourge of 
small cords" overturns the tables of the money-changers, and 
begins to drive out the buyers and sellers. 

A few months ago, when I landed in Dublin, I had some gold, 
went to the bank of Ireland, and had it changed into current 
coin. There was one piece I retained, — an American half- 
eagle in gold, given me by my aunt for a "pocket-piece," before 

1 sailed. I had also bills upon a bank in London, by order 
from America, payable sixty days after sight. Intending soon 
to leave Dublin for England, and apprehending some difficulty 
unless I visited London, I concluded to retain them till then. 
Being detained longer in Dublin than I expected, my ready 
funds were exhausted to one penny; I was too busy in the 
work of God to make inquiries, but was several times in morti- 
fying straits for the want of a little "pocket-money." Often 
was I driven to the point of changing my favorite coin ; and 
had aunt been near me, she would have said, in a moment, 
" Cash it." 

A friend at length told me I need not be without money a 
single day, and cashed one of my bills immediately. Ignorance 
in spiritual matters may, in like manner, subject us to much 
trouble, and many unnecessary and evil reasonings. 

The fruits of the Spirit are every one given to us freely of 
God, and made known and sustained by the Holy Spirit. 1 Cor. 

2 : 12. But for what purpose I To be kept to look at ? or to 
be expended as the necessities of the soul demand ? The latter, 
most certainly. It is not essential that you should be able to 
realize or analyze in your heart all the fruits of the Spirit in 
the same hour. You should remember that, as one piece of 
gold contains several pieces of silver, so^ it may be also with 
one of the " distinct fruits of the Spirit." Circumstances may 
absolutely demand that he who has a golden coin should have 
it changed into silver; so it may be with the Christian, in refer- 



ADVICE TO AN INQUIRER. 285 

ence to one or more of those graces or " fruits of the Spirit," 
recorded in Galatians 5 : 22, 23. By this important passage 
examine your heart. Suppose you enjoy peace, but this implies 
faith. Love, but faith is included in love. Only be faithful, 
and that sweet peace or confiding love may be " changed " into 
conquering faith in the time of trial. Joy in God may spring 
out of peace, or faith, or love; but when your heart is thrilling 
with delight, your exulting soul is far above such nice distinc- 
tions. This is proper. Who but a simpleton would refuse the 
pleasure of sunshine and a pleasant walk, until he had first, to 
his own satisfaction, analyzed a sunbeam ? Enjoy the sunny 
hour while you have it. Love, peace, and faith are surely there 
in this triumph of the soul, but joy carries the palm. When a 
great hero returns victorious, all eyes are fixed on him, and the 
subordinate officers who contributed to the victory, though 
present, are overlooked ; but when an account of the battle 
comes before the public, these officers appear very conspicuous 
in the engagement. You have love, but this is a piece of gold, 
and it may in time of necessity be discounted into " long-suffer- 
ing, gentleness, meekness, temperance." 

You desire my views as to what use we are to make of our 
past experience. Very little indeed, unless our souls are in a 
safe and happy state now. We may employ it for purposes of 
repentance, or humiliation ; but if we have backslidden from 
God, we must not entertain hopes of heaven on that ground ; no, 
not at our peril. Ezek. 33 : 13. 

One day last winter, while in Limerick, I called at the house 
of an aged man. His daughter was present. I asked her 
whether she enjoyed religion. The old man remained silent 
for a few moments, to give her time to reply, for he knew it 
was not with her as formerly. There was no answer. " Sir," 
he said, " when I was a boy, I lived with my uncle, and I had 
plenty, — good breakfasts, good dinners, and suppers, — but," 
pointing to some potato-cakes which were over the fire, pre- 
paring for their humble meal, he added, "these cakes are bet- 
ter to me now." 

This was a homely, but a striking illustration. We can no 



286 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

more subsist upon grace received years or months ago, than that 
man could live upon the meals he received when a boy, at his 
rich uncle's table. A few potato-cakes were of more importance 
to him in his old age. I would not, however, advise you to 
write your experience upon the sand. We are not to throw 
away the past dealings of God with our souls, as we do our 
almanacs when they are out of date. 

As these calendars are of use to the end of the year, so is the 
record of our past religious feelings to the end of life. Who 
would cast away his almanac when only the half of the year 
has expired ? 

The calculations laid down in the moment of the " new 
birth." are in force all the days of our life, if the grace be 
retained, — from the first hour of our second birth to the last 
hour of our connection with the body. 

If ever God pardon a sinner, there is a last moment when his 
sins are unpardoned, and a first, in which, for the sake of Christ, 
they are all forgiven him. It is a matter of no small conse- 
quence that he should be able to distinguish such a period in 
his past history. 

A Christian has great advantage in all his conflicts, when he 
can confidently refer to the precise time and place of his conver- 
sion. The sea-captain is much assisted and encouraged, though 
tossed and driven by winds and waves, by a reference to the 
"reckoning" he has kept since land disappeared from his sight. 
Allow that he has lost his reckoning, or never had a correct 
one ; it is no matter how well the ship is managed, he has no 
assurance he shall ever reach the port of his destination ; nor 
will he have any comfort till, by some means or other, he shall 
obtain his exact latitude and longitude. But the hour the mat- 
ter is settled is that from which he reckons. The illustration 
shows the state of that man who has lost the grace of the second 
birth, or who seriously doubts whether the mighty change has 
been accomplished in the history of his mind. 

I told the congregation, the other night, of a good man in 
Dutchess county, New York, who said, " I know the time and 
place of my conversion. It was in the corner of a certain field 



ADVICE TO AN INQUIRER. 287 

where God had mercy upon my soul ; and there I drove down 
a stake. The devil often assaults me; and when he does so 
with violence, I walk down to the spot, and I have thought the 
devil fool enough to accompany me. I point to the stake, and 
say, Now, devil, do you see that post ? Well, there, at such a 
time God converted my soul ; and I enjoy the evidence yet.' 
This is an argument Satan has never been able to stand, and 
he gives the matter up as a lost case." 

But we have something more substantial than such a dead, 
corruptible witness. Please read Romans 8 : 15, 16 ; Gala- 
tians 4 : 6. "When such a cry as is mentioned in the last pas- 
sage comes into the heart, it is loud enough for the soul to 
hear ; nor shall it ever be forgotten. 

Has the intelligent friend for whom you desire these remarks 
read the works of Dr. Paley ? If so, she will recognize the 
following striking sentiments. His " Evidences of Christianity," 
and " Moral and Political Economy," are in high repute in all 
places of learning, and secure him from the imputation of being 
an " enthusiast or a fanatic." " I do not," says this great 
writer, " in the smallest degree, mean to undervalue or speak 
lightly of such changes, whenever or in whomsoever they take 
place. Nor to deny that they may be sudden, yet lasting. 
Nay, I am rather inclined to think, that it is in this manner 
they frequently take place. Nor to dispute what is upon good 
testimony alleged concerning conversion being brought about 
by affecting incidents of life, striking passages of Scripture ; by 
impressive discourses from the pulpit ; by what we meet with 
in books, or even by single touching sentences in such discourses 
or books. I am not disposed to question such relations unneces- 
sarily, but rather to bless God for such instances, when I hear 
of them, and to regard them as merciful ordinations of his 
providence. Now, of the persons in our congregations, to whom 
we not only may, but must preach the doctrine of conversion 
plainly and directly, are there, who, with the name, indeed, of 
Christians, have hitherto passed their lives without any internal 
religion whatever. These are no more Christians, as to any 
actual benefit of Christianity to their souls, than the most hard- 



288 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

ened Jew or the most profligate Gentile was in the age of 
the Gospel. As to any difference in the two cases, it is all 
against them. These must be converted before they can be 
saved. The course of their thoughts must be changed ; the 
very principles upon which they act must be changed. Con- 
siderations which never, or hardly ever, entered into their 
minds, must deeply and perpetually engage them. Views and 
motives which did not influence them at all must become the 
views and motives which they regularly consult, and by which 
they are guided ; that is to say, there must be a revolution of 
principle. The visible conduct will change, but there must 
be a revolution within. A change so entire, so deep, so import- 
ant as this, I do allow to be conversion ; and no one who is in 
the situation above described can be saved, without undergoing 
it ; and he must necessarily both be sensible of it at the time, 
and remember it all his life afterwards. It is too momentous an 
event ever to be forgotten; a man might as easily cease to recollect 
his escape from shipwreck. Whether it was sudden, or whether 
it was gradual, if it were effected (and the fruits will prove 
that), it was true conversion, and every such person may justly 
both believe and say for himself that he was converted at a 
particular assignable time. It may not be necessary to speak 
of his conversion, but he will always think of it with unbounded 
thankfulness to the Giver of all grace, the Author of all 
mercies. 

" The next description of persons to whom we must preach 
conversion, properly so called, are those who allow themselves 
in the course of any known sin. The allowed prevalence of 
any one known sin is sufficient to exclude us from the char- 
acter of God's children ; and we must be converted from sin, in 
order to become such. Here, then, we must preach conversion. 

"In these two cases, therefore, men must be converted, or 
remain unconverted and die ; and the time of conversion can be 
ascertained. There must that pass within them, at some par- 
ticular assignable time, which is properly conversion, and will 
all their lives be remembered as such. This description, with- 
out all doubt, comprehends great numbers, and it is each per- 



ADVICE TO AN INQUIRER. 289 

son's business to settle it with himself whether he be not of the 
number ; — if he be, he sees what is to be done." 

But, to refer more immediately to your own experience. It is 
your duty to keep in memory God's gracious dealings with 
your soul in times past. The Israelites were commanded by 
the Lord, Exod. 16 : 32, 33, to fill a pot with manna, and lay it 
up before the testimony as a memorial of the bread rained 
down from heaven when God brought his people out of the 
land of Egypt. The stone which the prophet Samuel raised 
between Mizpeh and Sher was a remembrancer. He named it 
Ebenezer, saying, " Hitherto hath the Lord helped us I " 
25 



CHAPTER X. 

THE CONVERT UNDER SORE TEMPTATION. 

I do not wonder that, instead of peace, you have " trouble" 
in all your " borders." When a prisoner has essaped, the 
" hue and cry " is immediately raised. So long as he remained 
safe in the cell, there was quietness and peace in the prison ; 
hut if he have broken his fetters, and forced back bolts and 
locks, and got loose, the jailer will try to raise the country after 
him. The devil was your jailer, and he kept you a close pris- 
oner : but one mightier than he has forced open your prison 
doors ; and there were none present to say to the enraged fiend, 
as St. Paul to the distracted jailer, " Do thyself no harm ; we 
are all here" No, bless God, he is minus of one. One ! hal- 
lelujah ! hundreds have vacated their cells lately, as if an 
earthquake had shaken hell's prison ; and they are free from his 
hellish grasp, at least, for the present. And it will be their own 
fault if they are ever again within the grasp of his power. 

Your case bears no small resemblance to that of the Israel- 
ites. When they toiled at the brick-kilns of Egypt, and bowed 
their necks uncomplainingly to the yoke of Pharaoh, it was 
well. They endured the hardships of a degrading slavery, but 
Pharaoh thought very well of them. The Lord God, at length, 
broke from off them the yoke of that tyrant, and, with a strong 
hand, brought them forth from a cruel bondage. But Pharaoh 
pursued them with " horsemen and chariots of war," intending 
to slay, or terrify them back again into bondage. 

And thus it was with you. When in the devil's service, he 
gave you plenty of work, hard work, hushed your guilty fears, 
and thus rendered you a willing captive. No sooner, however, 
did you begin to struggle for liberty, than he changed his voice 



THB CONVERT UNDER SORE TEMPTATION. 291 

concerning you. The Lord came down with an outstretched 
arm and a strong hand, and bade the oppressed go free. The 
tyrannical and galling yoke of Satan was rent off from your 
soul, and you left his service and territories in triumph. The 
old tyrant, the devil, it seems, is aroused ; — all hell's legions 
are out in pursuit ! " And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore 
criest thou unto me ? — Speak unto the children of Israel, that they 
go forward." Exod. 16 : 15. Go forward, my dear friend ; 
and that God who interposed his power so miraculously in 
behalf of the Israelites at the Red Sea will surely overthrow 
your spiritual enemies. Your present conflicts are severe, but 
you should consider them rather as tokens of the safety of your 
state. I was once highly pleased and profited by the following 
sentiments of an old divine. May they prove a blessing to 
you ! — " The less peace you have from the devil, the more 
pleasure 'you may take in the reflection that you have escaped 
out of his clutches. The more restlessly he follows you with 
the fury of many temptations, the more sweetly and securely, 
if you give way to the counsel of the prophets and the work 
of faith, may you repose your wearied soul upon the comfort- 
able assurance of being certainly a child of God." Bradford, 
the martyr, you may remember, considered his sufferings only 
as so many evidences that he was in the right way. A good 
man, many years ago, foiled the devil with the following 
weapon : "I am now, in Christ, a new creature ; and that is 
what troubles thee, Satan. I might have continued in my sins 
long enough ere thou wouldst have been vexed at it ; but now I 
see thou dost envy me the grace of my Saviour." The tempter, 
finding himself discovered and resisted, retreated from the field. 
As to your fear of backsliding, I can only say to you as 
did an aged Christian to one troubled with a similar apprehen- 
sion : " So long as you fear, and are humbly dependent upon 
God, you shall never fall, but certainly prevail." The indi- 
vidual, I believe, till the end of life, realized the truth of the 
remark. Satan is a shrewd and crafty antagonist. He has 
encountered many a Christian, and has even " measured 
swords " with Jesus Christ himself. Whatever the weapons 



292 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

are you chose to fight with, he will never fail to try what metal 
they are made of. I well remember, at a particular and some- 
what trying period of my Christian life, one who had more faith 
and courage than myself said : " The glorious splendor of the 
Christian armor in the sixth chapter of Ephesians is able, my 
brother, to dazzle the devil's eyes, daunt his courage, and drive 
him from the field." 

I replied, mournfully, " Perhaps so ; but I think the devil 
is determined to examine mine pretty closely, as if to try of 
what sort of metal it is made." 

That advice of the apostle is particularly applicable to you 
just now : " Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be 
perfect and entire, wanting nothing." Neither fret nor mur- 
mur; quietly wait upon God, and endure to the end of this 
trial, and those graces of the Spirit which are as yet imperfect 
shall be brought unto a state of complete perfection. 

" Patient wait in sore temptation, 
Let no murmuring thought arise ; 
Firm in deepest tribulation, 
Breathe thy wishes to the skies ; 
When afflictions all surround thee, 
Calm attend thy Maker's will ; 
Pain nor death shall e'er confound thee, 
Only know him and be still." 

If faithful, you will lose nothing, but be an infinite gainer by 
these trials. If they drive you to seek purity of heart, all shall 
be well ; you will then be safer than now, because not so liable 
to depart from God, nor so easily corrupted by the devil. In- 
dwelling sin is his faithful ally, but a most treacherous and 
dangerous foe to the soul. " A holy Christian," said a good 
man, " is like gold. Now, cast gold into the fire, or into the 
water ; cast it upon the dunghill, or into the pleasant garden ; 
cast it among the poor, or among the rich, — among the religious, 
or among the licentious; yet still it is gold, — still it retains its 
purity and its excellency. Holiness is conservative ; it is the 
preserver of the soul. It was holiness that enabled St. Austin 
to thank God that his heart and the temptation did not meet 



THE CONVERT UNDER SORE TEMPTATION. 293 

together. " As things are in their nature and principles," ssys 
Flavel, " so they are in their operations and effects ; fire and water 
are of contrary qualities, and when they meet, they effectually 
oppose each other. Sin and holiness are so opposite, that if sin 
should cease to oppose holiness, it would cease to be sin ; and 
if holiness should not oppose sin, it would cease to be holiness." 
When holiness has charge of the soul, every bad thought in- 
jected by the devil is repulsed with a holy indignation. There 
is a great difference in the effects of a spark falling upon a mar- 
ble floor, clean and white, and a floor sprinkled with gunpowder. 
Nevertheless, my dear friend, if you are faithful to God, though 
you have to contend with indwelling sin, and " various tempta- 
tions," God will never forsake you, so long as you maintain the 
contention. The Tyrians bound their idol gods with chains, 
lest, in the time of danger, they should desert their old friends ; 
but our God has bound himself with the chains of his promises, 
that he will not leave nor forsake us. 

Consider the following comforting promise : " For he hath 
said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.''' Heb. 13 : 5. 
An old writer comments upon the above passage thus : " The 
Greek has five negatives, and may thus be rendered : ' I will 
not, not leave thee, neither will I not, not forsake thee.' The 
precious promise, you will perceive, is renewed five times, that 
we might have strong consolation and vigorous confidence." 
The words were originally spoken to Joshua : " As I was with 
Moses, so I will he with thee : I will not fail thee nor forsake 
thee." A blessed promise this ; and it may be righteously 
claimed by every spiritual warrior in the army of Jesus Christ. 
It was afterward quoted by David, for the encouragement of his 
son Solomon : " Be strong and of good courage, and do it ; fear 
not, nor be dismayed : for the Lord God, even my God, will be 
with thee ; he will not fail thee, nar forsake thee, until thou hast 
finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord" 
1 Chron. 28 : 20. It is repeated again in the book of Psalms : 
" My loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer 
my faithfulness to fail." 

Any one reading the Greek of Heb. 13 : 5 cannot fail to see 
25* 



294 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

the truth of the old divine's criticism, with regard to the nega- 
tives. The promise was concluded by the apostle, in additional 
strength of language, that it might harmonize more fully 
with the superiority of Gospel privileges, when compared with 
the Jewish. The promise had passed the cross of Christ, hence 
the propriety of its peculiar strength. It is impossible to con- 
ceive how words could be better arranged to express the un- 
changeable friendship of God toward those who put their trust 
in him. Dr. Doddridge renders it : "I will not, I will not leave 
thee ; I will never, never, never forsake thee." ! my friend ! 
all hell cannot prevent the virtue of this promise from wielding 
an influence upon your present and eternal well-being, so long 
as you are faithful. Has he not also assured you, " When thou 
passest through the waters, I will be with thee ; and through the 
rivers, they shall not overflow thee : when thou walkest through 
the fire, thou shalt not be burned ; neither shall the flame kindle 
upon thee " ? 

Many times have I joined the American Christians in singing 
the following beautiful lines, which will serve as a sort of com- 
ment upon the above passages. Often, very often, have we 
rejoiced with joy unspeakable while we sang : — 

" How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, 
Is laid for your faith, in his excellent word ! 
What more could he say than to you he has said, 
You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled ? 

" In every condition, in sickness and health, 
In poverty's vale, or abounding in wealth, 
At home or abroad, on the land, on the sea, 
As thy day may demand, shall thy strength ever be. 

" Fear not, I am with you ; oh, be not dismayed, — 
I, I am thy God, and will still give you aid; 
I '11 strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, 
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand. 

' ( When through the deep waters I call thee to go, 
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow; 
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless, 
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress. 



THE CONVERT UNDER SORE TEMPTATION. 295 

M When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, 
My grace all-sufficient shall be thy supply ; 
The flames shall not hurt thee, — I only design 
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine. 

11 Even down to old age, all my people shall prove 
My faithful, eternal, unchangeable love ; 
And when hoary hairs do their temples adorn, 
Like lambs they shall still on my bosom be borne. 

" The soul that on Jesus doth lean for repose, 
2" will not, I will not desert to his Joes ; 
That soul though all hell should endeavor to shake, 
I'll never, — no, never, — no, never forsake ! " 

Although, then, you are in heaviness through manifold tempta- 
tio?i, that the trial of your faith may be more precious than gold , 
you see what a groundwork there is for confidence and spiritual 

joy. 

I have frequently had the perception you speak of, — of the 
presence of angels. But I have told to very few my own experi- 
ence with regard to such manifestations. Few, except those who 
walk very closely with God, would understand. It is written, the 
angel of " the Lord encampeth round about those that fear him" 
to succor or to deliver. I was reading, the other day, an ac- 
count of one of the primitive Christians, who suffered for Christ 
the extremest tortures; — a young man, if I remember aright. 
When doing their utmost to torment him on the rack, he seemed 
very happy ; and so overpowering were the comforts of the Holy 
Ghost, he declared that he himself was unconscious of the suf- 
ferings of his body, — that his pleasures were unutterable! 
Tired, at length, of tormenting him, they took him down from 
the rack, — at which he complained, saying, now they were 
doing him wrong. " For," said he, " all the while I was on the 
rack, and you were venting your malice against me, I thought 
there was a young man in white, — an angel that stood by me, 
who wiped off the sweat ; and I found a great deal of sweetness 
in my sufferings, which now I have lost." Nor need we wonder 
at this, seeing that the word of God expressly declares that they 
are " all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who 



296 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

rhall be heirs of salvation.'" Heb. 1 : 14. We may not, indeed, 
be at all times sensible of their presence ; but they are always 
near us, and, in a greater or less degree, as the case may require, 
exert their influence for our comfort in or deliverance from 
temptation. You will do well, however, to meditate much upon 
that fine promise : " There hath no temptation taken you but such 
as is common to man ; but God is faithful, who will not suffer 
you to be tempted above that ye are able ; but will with the tempt- 
ation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" 
The " way of escape " you must leave to him. Perhaps, you 
may yet have to sing, — 

" Thine arm hath safely brought us 
A way no more expected 

Than when thy sheep passed through the deep, 
By crystal walls protected." 

Before long, God will bruise Satan under your feet. Is it not 
written, " For he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye " ? 
" And," said a good man once, " And whosoever is bold enough 
to touch the apple of God's eye, shall dearly smart for it." Was 
it not upon this principle Christ declared, in reference to any 
who should dare to offend one of these little ones who believe in 
him, that rather than be guilty of such an offence, and the 
hazard which attends it, it would be better for him that a mill- 
stone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea ? 
If the displeasure of the Lord is so severe against a human per- 
secutor, how much more against a knowing and malignant devil ! 
The devil hazards more than we are aware of, when he attacks 
the saints, — especially a new convert. 

The value of the prize, and some great and infernal principles 
involved in the matter, overbalance the risk, possibly, in the 
estimation of the prince of darkness. We shall know more 
about these things hereafter. It is sufficient for us to know that, 
if we resist the devil, he will flee from us. James 4:7. If we 
parley, he will bid defiance to heaven, and pursue our track, as 
the shark the wandering and fated ship. When in the city of 
Cork, Ireland, I was conversing with an old Irish class-leader, on 



THE CONVERT UNDER SORE TEMPTATION. 297 

the severe mental conflicts with which some good people are 
particularly harassed. He said, he sometimes told the tempted 
ones in his class that the devil is just like a dog; — the dog will 
stay with you, and lie under the table, if you will only give him 
bones to gnaw ; and when he does obtain them, he will keep snarl- 
ing and grumbling still. Doubts, fears, evil reasonings, and sur- 
mises, are such bones as the devil loves to pick, and they are never 
sweeter than when given by a human hand ; the more of these 
you give him, the closer he will press upon you, and the more 
steadily will he pursue you, and wait upon you in all your rest- 
ing-places. The more bones you throw him, the louder he will 
snarl, ahd the more annoying will he become. Let him have no 
more txmes. Starve the devil, and he will leave you ; he will 
go elsewhere ; he is the last being in the universe that will spend 
his short time to no purpose. The illustration is homely, but it 
unfolds a great and solemn truth. 

But I must hasten to a conclusion. Forget not that you 
have a Mediator in heaven : " We have an Advocate with the 
Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous." The devil may accuse, but 
you cannot be overthrown while you commit your cause into the 
hands of such an Advocate. Heavy were the accusations against 
JEschylus, in the old story, and some of them, indeed, were too 
true ; but his brother, who had received many wounds in the 
battles of the Commonwealth, moved the magistrates in his favor. 
Every scar was an argument, — an advocate ! Come, my friend, 
enter now into your closet, kneel down, and sing that fine verse : 

" Entered the holy place above, 
Covered with meritorious scars, 
The tokens of his dying love, 
Our great High Priest in glory bears ; 
He pleads his passion on the tree, 
He shows himself to God for me." 

" He is come ! " cried a martyr, clapping his hands, on the 
way to the stake. But he had been greatly dejected before, and 
had suffered much from that cause. " He is come ! He is come ! " 
told that the presence of Jesus had banished all his sadness, and 
turned his sorrow into joy. My prayer is, that you may be 



298 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

enabled to exclaim, " He is come ! He is come ! " before you arise 
from your knees. 

That was a fine saying of Augustine, when reproached by his 
persecutors for his past wicked life, — " The more desperate my 
case was, the more I admire my physician." This sword has 
two edges : you may wield it against the devil when he assails 
you with those weapons which your past life has furnished him ; 
and, should your mourning be turned into joy, you may lay 
about you with the other edge. " The more desperate my case 
was, the more I admire my physician ! " Let Jesus, and him 
crucified, be your only plea. Trust simply and singly in the 
merits of his blood. Eesolve to do this in life, in death, and 
forever. This, too, is a mighty weapon. It was wielded, a few 
years ago, with great effect, by one of our local preachers, in 
America, when dying : " I die," said he, " wrapped in the merits 
of Jesus ; and I shall lie down in the grave wrapped in the merits 
of Jesus ; and I shall rise in the morning of the resurrection 
wrapped in the merits of Jesus ! " The devil trembled and fled 
before it, and the saint entered into*his rest with glorious joy. 

An old writer says : " As corn is beholden to the flail to thresh 
off its husks, or as the iron is beholden to the file to brighten 
it, so necessary are temptations and afflictions to the people of 
God." An hour of affliction, or a day of sore temptation, has 
often been more beneficial to my soul than many days of sunny 
prosperity. There are herbs, you know, whose virtue consists 
chiefly in their fragrance, but some of them are quite scentless 
and uninteresting till bruised ; then they shed their perfume all 
around. Thus it is with many a Christian. The fragrance of 
his piety is never diffused abroad until he is well bruised; — 
till 

" Hell has won its will, 
-To wring his soul with agony." 

" Our prayers and meditations," said a good man, " like hot 
spices, are most fragrant when our hearts are bruised in God's 
mortar, and broken with afflictions and troubles." When such 
a one, after a day or week of trial, speaks in a class or a love- 



THB CONVERT UNDER SORE TEMPTATION.' 299 

feast, an influence from heaven descends upon all around. I 
have frequently observed this, and have felt, with the poet, 

" 'Tis even as if an angel shook his wings, — 
Immortal fiagrance fills the circuit wide! " 

Such mental trials are thus overruled, usually, for the good 
of a privileged few, but the influence often extends to many. 
Like his Lord and Master, the tempted one may terminate his 
forty days of trial in the wilderness, and then return in the 
'power of the Spirit into Galilee ; and, if God ordain it for his 
glory, the fame of the humble and zealous man may spread 
through all the region round about. Luke 4: 14. Miracles of 
grace and mercy may result from such an instrumentality. But 
a dispensation like this is as great a mystery to some carnal 
professors as was Samson's riddle to the Philistines : " Out of 
the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweet- 
ness." Judges 14 : 14. Who could ever have imagined that 
the carcass of a lion should have become a bee-hive ? " What 
is stronger than a lion ? what is sweeter than honey ? " Samson 
had a tremendous conflict, no doubt, with the lion. When he 
came out with a roar against him, it is not unlikely he appre- 
hended peril ; but, when the Spirit came mightily upon him, he 
rent the furious animal as it had been a kid, and, leaving him 
dead, went on his way rejoicing. Sometime afterward, when 
passing that way, he turned aside to see the carcass of his old 
antagonist, when, " lo and behold," he found therein a swarm 
of bees, with plenty of honey ! So he took thereof in his hands, 
and went on eating, till he met his father and mother ; and he 
gave them, and they did eat. 

You can apply the above to your own case, and carry the 
idea, if you please, further than time will permit me. I am 
persuaded, however, the Lord will overrule for your good, so 
long as you are faithful to his grace, every temptation which 
may assail you. A poet has given that interesting circumstance 
recorded in 1 Kings 17 : 6 an ingenious turn : — 



300 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

" Thus Satan, that raven unclean, 
Who croaks in the ears of his saints, 
Compelled by a power unseen, 
Administers oft to their wants. 
God teaches them oft to find food, 
From all the temptations they feel ; 
This raven, who thirsts for their blood, 
Has helped them to many a meal! " 

I have often thought of that sentiment written by a young 
lady in America to a friend of hers : "I believe both our souls 
would wither, did not the rough wind sometimes arise to blow 
away the dust from our branches." Had not that terrible tem- 
pest overtaken the disciples on the lake, they would not have 
been the admiring witnesses of that stupendous miracle which 
humbled into silence the winds and the waves. Their terror 
was great, when they cried : " Master, carest thou not that we 
perish ? " " The ship was covered with the waves ; but he was 
asleep." But how great was their joy and confidence, when 
they exclaimed one to another, " What manner of man is this ? 
for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him." 

It is your duty, at this time, to look for divine interference ; 
if not for entire deliverance, yet for more abundant comfort and 
joy in the Holy Ghost. " When," said a good man once, 
"When should the torch be lighted, but in the dark night? 
When should the fire be made, but when the weather is cold ? 
And when should the cordial be given, but when the patient is 
weak ? " A poor man, in a certain place, was heard to say, 
that he was once rich, and had learned something of God, and 
then he prayed continually for a closer walk with God. " But, 
at first," he continued, "when God began to answer my prayers, 
I thought he was going to destroy me ; he deprived me of every- 
thing I had, but he gave me what was of infinitely more value, 
even to know more of himself and Jesus." 

How often, when standing on the sea-shore, " while the wind 
laid on the sea its continuous blast, and myriads of billows 
whitened in its track, and wave rolled on wave in emulous con- 
fusion," have I watched the motions of the buoy ! Again and 
again would the waves pass over it ; — bury it for a moment, 



THE CONVERT UNDER SORE TEMPTATION. 301 

but only for* a moment ; again it appeared riding upon the tops 
of crested billows, — maintaining its position steadily amidst 
the restless and frowning elements, nor departing an inch 
beyond the prescribed limits, because attached to a rock which 
could not be moved. And I have seen the Christian also, en- 
compassed with warring temptations ; as if the strength of hell 
had been mustered to overthrow him. And one wave of trouble 
has followed upon the track of another, yet he has remained 
firmly stationed amidst it all ; because anchored upon the Rock 
of Ages. He could smile at the tempest, and laugh at the 
waves; — his heart ivas Jixed, trusting in the Lord. Thus cir- 
cumstanced, I have heard him repeat the following lines, and 
with an energy that might make a devil tremble : 

" Led by God, I brave the ocean ; 
Led by Him, the storms defy ; 
Calm amidst tremendous motion, 
Knowing that the Lord is nigh. 

Waves obey him, 
And the storms before him fly." 

And, after the storm was over, I have seen the same individ- 
ual " emparadised in joy," and not a cloud upon his sky, nor a 
single ripple of the late commotions passing over his composed 
breast, and remembering his troubles only as waters gone by. 
Gifts and graces from above have I known to descend upon 
such an one, with an unction which enabled him to carry every- 
thing before him among the ranks of sinners, while to the saints 
of God it was "as if an angel shook his wings." 

These varieties in our spiritual pilgrimage, like the various 
changes which occur in nature, are, though painful, best for us, 
doubtless ; else our Heavenly Father would not permit them. 
They are overruled for good, and why should we complain? — 

"Perpetual sunshine wastes the lovely green, 
And spreads disaster o'er the wide terrene ; 
Perpetual storm impedes the tender growth, 
And robs the fields of comeliness and worth. 
By frequent changes yon extensive plain 
Is made to yield its golden stacks of grain ; 
To scenes unvaried nature stands opposed, 
By clashing processes are her charms disclosed." 

26 



303 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

The heathens themselves had some perception of 'the benefits 
arising from such adverse changes. Hence that memorable 
paradox, that, " None is so unhappy as he who has never known 
adversity." 

Salvation is of the Lord. Trust in him at all times. Kather 
die than sin. Rest fully, firmly, constantly, upon the merits of 
Christ. 

A poet has truly said, "Our life is but a pilgrimage of 
blasts." The sentiment is quite as applicable now, in the nine- 
teenth century, as it was in the seventeenth, when- it was writ- 
ten. Your temptations are, I confess, very severe. They some- 
what resemble those which led a pious lady mournfully to com- 
plain, — "Mine is a growing sorrow. Like other streams, it 
widens as it proceeds." St. Peter denominates such trials 
"manifold temptations." They are " varied," says Mr. Wesley, 
" a thousand ways, by the change and addition of numberless 
circumstances." They may be fitly compared to those Alpine 
difficulties of which the poet speaks : 

"But, these attained, we tremble to survey 
The growing labors of the lengthened way ; 
The increasing prospect tires our wandering eyes, 
Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps o'er Alps arise. 

Yours are "Jiery trials ; " and they are the more severe on 
account of their being principally mental. The pains of the 
mind are much more afflictive, and harder, I believe, to be 
borne, than those of the body. I remember an apologue, which 
came over to us some years ago, from Persia, illustrative of this 
fact. A king and his ministers of state, by some means, were 
drawn into a discussion, whether mental or corporeal sufferings 
are the severest. The dispute lasted some time, and resulted in 
a difference of opinion. One of the ministers proposed an 
experiment, which was agreed to. He took a lamb from the 
flock, broke its leg, shut it up, and placed plenty of food before 
it ; he then seized another lamb, and shut it up with a tiger. 
The tiger was bound by a strong chain, so that the beast could 
spring near the lamb without the possibility of touching it. In 



THE CONVERT UNDER SORE TEMPTATION. 303 

the morning the king was carried to see the result. The lamb 
with the broken leg had eaten all its food, but the other lay dead 
through fright. You can make the application. 

While I was in Leeds, a brother told me of the case of a sis- 
ter who had suffered severely from mental conflicts. One said, 
" Fear not, my sister ; the devil is a chained enemy ! " With a 
sorrowful voice, she replied, " But I have sometimes thought 
his chain is very long." 

There are certain kinds of temptation which are termed " The 
depths of Satan ;" which will apply to those "blasphemous 
thoughts" of which you speak. " The heavens for height, and 
the earth for depth ; " but how very far is it, often, to the bot- 
tom of the depths of Satan's malice, and cunning working ! To 
the heights of the understanding will he aspire, and to the 
depths of the heart will he descend. To either of these he will 
carry his secret and infernal counsels and plots, and with incon- 
ceivable energy. 

I have met with the remark somewhere, in the course of my 
reading, that the Christian should be influenced by a retrospect- 
ive and a prospective view of his history, and derive therefrom 
experience and comfort. But Satan may render both a source 
of annoyance to the mind. It is right you should be humbled 
in the view of the past ; but it is wrong to allow your spirit to 
be depressed, — " stung and tormented," — because of it. If your 
sins are forgiven through the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, you 
should rejoice and be grateful, — not sad and unthankful. Nor 
should you, for a moment, suppose the present trials which 
assail you " are acts of a retributive justice." That was a cor- 
rect saying of St. Augustine : " Our sufferings are no argument 
against our righteousness, nor even for our righteousness, but 
our righteousness may be an ornament to our sufferings." 
Look at unhappy Benjamin ! Joseph loved him more than any 
of the rest, but he suffered most severely, for " the cup ivas 
found in Benjamin's sack." Nor should you be amazed at this, 
seeing that it is written : " For unto you it is given" as a token 
of special favor and honor, " in the behalf of Christ, not only to 
believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake" 



304 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

You. have a skilful and malignant enemy to contend with, 
and this is his hour, and he is making the most of it ; the why 
and the wherefore, you shall know hereafter. Satan knows you 
well ; and a mechanic never understood his tools better than 
does your enemy. He knows what will most affect you, and 
the instrument most suitable to wound or impress you. Your 
mind is sore, and it has a leaning just now to melancholy; and 
the mind, like a tree, is easily bent in the direction to which it 
leans. Satan knows this, and his entire weight, or, at least, as 
much as God permits, is thrown upon the leaning side. Do you 
understand me ? 

I was amused, the other day, with the quaint remark of a good 
man. Speaking of the devil, he remarked : " The fiend might 
well be called Beelzebub, which signifies master fly ; because, 
as a fly, he quickly returns to the part from which he was but 
now beaten." 

A tender conscience is an unspeakable blessing, as it may 
save the soul from unutterable woes, both in this world and the 
next. But a scrupulous conscience is not a blessing ; " rather," 
says Mr. Wesley, " it is a sore evil." It is upon this a mali- 
cious tempter likes to alight. Again and again, he will come 
down upon this sore place, — this diseased faculty of the mind, — 
and will irritate and perpetuate the uneasiness arising from that 
conscientious scruple. I know a person who has suffered severely, 
in past years, from the same cause. I have heard him say : 
" The melancholy eye of my soul could look for months at a 
case of conscience, without winking. Although my reason sees 
the path of duty, and my judgment decides against the cause of 
my uneasiness, yet all the decisions of the higher powers of my 
mind are insufficient to remove the secret annoyance, or to 
satisfy the unreasonable scruples entertained by my weak con- 
science." 

Some writer compares a tender conscience to the eye ; the 
least dust that blows into it will make it smart, and this not from 
soreness, but from quickness of sense. Now, this quickness of 
sense is the preserver of that delicate organ ; — indeed, it may 
be the safe-guard of the entire body. " The light of the body 



THE CONVERT UNDER SORE TEMPTATION. 305 

is the eye" Solomon says, " The wise man's eyes are in his 
head;" — his ornament and his defence. The eye, when used 
figuratively in Scripture, generally denotes the right use of 
reason. A poet illustrates the idea thus : 

"The wise are circumspect, maturely weigh 
The consequence of what they undertake, 
Good ends propose, and fittest means apply 
To accomplish their designs." 

" The eye is to the body," says one, " what the sun is to the 
universe in the day-time, or a lamp or a candle to a house at 
night." The conscience, however, may be fitly compared to the 
eye, and its quick sensibilities may be the means of great and 
continued blessings to the soul. It was this quality in King 
Josiah that secured to him the favor of God, at a time when 
the aspect of providence was lowering and threatening : " Thus 
saith the Lord God of Israel, As touching the words which thou 
hast heard; because thine heart was tender, and thou hast 
humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I 
spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, 
that they should become a desolation, and a curse, and hast 
rent thy clothes, and wept before me ; I also have heard thee, 
saith the Lord." 

But there is a difference between the sensibilities of a healthy 
eye, and those which arise from disease, — as inflammation, for 
instance. It is so with the conscience ; that quickness of sense 
which belongs to it in a healthy state may occasion a smart 
when in contact with real evil, and alarm the soul into a sense 
of danger; but a diseased conscience, like an inflamed eye, will 
create pain, when there is no sin to occasion it. A long con- 
tinuation of sore and perplexing temptation is apt to bring on 
such a state of conscience as friction will do, when continued 
for any length of time upon the surface of the flesh ; — it will 
produce irritation and inflammation of the 'part. 

I have conversed with many persons exactly in this state of 
mind, and, usually, have found their trouble amounting to this : 
An impression is made upon the conscience that some things are 
26* 



306 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

duties which the judgment contradicts; or, that some past or 
present actions, with regard to business, habits, conversation, 
dress, &c., are sinful, while reason rejects such a conclusion; 
but a dissatisfied conscience maintains the matter in a state of 
uncertainty. In nine cases out of ten, it is an effort of the devil 
to raise a storm where there should be a calm. 

I could name a few devices of the enemy, in which, if he 
succeed, he gains a fearful advantage over a person thus circum- 
stanced : 1. By inducing the tempted one to persist in conceal- 
ing the trouble within his own bosom. The snare, possibly, 
might be readily broken, were the case divulged to a faithful 
and intelligent friend. This, to a delicate and sensitive mind, is 
not, in some cases, an easy matter, unless it find another heart 
"in union, mutually disclosed," and in which may be reposed 
undoubting confidence ; with whom, 

1 1 In all the sweet coincidence of thought, 
The soul holds intercourse." 

Not to have such a friend is an evil ; and, such is the deceptive 
nature of friendship, in this world of ours, that most people, 
before they arrive at twenty years of age, have learned to act 
upon that advice of the Scotch poet : 

"Aye free, affhand, your story tell, 
When wi' a bosom crony ; 
But still keep something to yoursel, 
Ye scarcely tell to ony. 
Conceal yoursel as weel 's ye can 
Frae critical dissection ; 
But keek through every other man, 
Wi' sharpened sly inspection." 

It is a pity, however, when the case is of such a nature as 
might be divulged, even to a " common friend," without risk. 
that the perplexed conscience should be left to struggle with it 
in secret and alone. The advantage, *n such a case, is all on 
the devil's side. 

2. By restraining prayer. God in Christ is our friend. 
" In everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving," 
says the apostle, " let your requests be made known unto God ; 



THE CONVERT UNDER SORE TEMPTATION. 307 

and the peace of God, which passeth understanding, shall keep 
your heart and minds, through Christ Jesus." To this friend 
you may tell all that is in your heart, without fear of being 
betrayed. The apostle says, " unto God" because there may be 
cases which it would be, perhaps, improper to divulge to a 
fellow-creature. By prayer we may obtain light, strength, or 
direction, while we engage God in our behalf; — just as we 
gain a true friend to espouse our cause, when we make him our 
confidant. Prayer is the devil's plague. He cares not a straw 
for your reasoning, if you will but keep your cause from God. 

3. By neglecting the Scriptures. If prayer is our method 
of opening our mind to our heavenly Father, the Bible is his 
method of opening his mind to us. " Therefore," said the 
psalmist, " I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be 
right. I love thy commandments above gold ; yea, above fine 
gold." The word of God is " the sword of the Spirit." And 
11 if you fetch this sword out of God's armory," said a good man 
to another, " the devil will run, like a coward." The Leviathan, 
his name-sake, is more afraid of the sword-fish, I have heard, 
than of all the fish of the ocean. Jesus Christ gave him such a 
wound with that sword, — " It is written," — that he feels it to 
this day. Nepotian, whose heart Jerome named Bibliothecam 
Christi, Christ's Library, because so well stored with Scripture, 
had a great and manifest advantage over Satan, when compared 
with less favored minds. It was on this principle that Robert, 
king of Sicily, said : " The Holy Books are dearer to me than 
my kingdom ; and, were I under any necessity of quitting one, 
it should be my diadem." And it is on this principle the devil 
will try every method to keep the scrupulous conscience from 
obtaining a knowledge of those particular Scriptures which 
would set it right, if applied by the Holy Ghost, in a few 
moments. 

4. By adopting hasty and unjustifiable measures for deliver- 
ance. Such as, 1st. Imprudent vows. These afford Satan a 
fearful advantage. 2nd. Yielding to sin. I have known per- 
sons strongly tempted to commit sin, supposing positive condem- 
nation to be more tolerable than the harassing effects of uncer- 



308 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

tainty. This is a dreadful alternative, and an abominaDle 
device of Satan, from which the sincere soul should recoil with 
horror. Better say, 

" Rather I would in darkness mourn 
The absence of thy peace, 
Than e'er by light irreverence turn 
Thy grace to wantonness ; 
Rather I would, in painful awe, 
Beneath thine anger move, , 

Than sin against the Gospel law 
Of liberty and love." 

5. By indulging a fretting and repining Spirit. This 
weakens the soul, and grieves the Spirit of God. John Bunyan 
tells us, that, yielding to impatience, he tempted God to grant 
him a sign of the truth of his omniscience; that, if all things 
were, indeed, known to him, with the very secrets of the human 
heart, he would prove it, by removing that particular thing that 
afflicted his mind. It was removed suddenly, but a worse 
temptation arrived immediately in its place. He confesses that, 
in his anxiety to get clear of one trouble, he did not deprecate 
or pray against that which might possibly follow. He does not 
tell us the nature of this second messenger of Satan ; only, that 
it left a sting in his conscience, with intolerable bodily anguish ; 
and that he considered it a punishment for his presumption. 
Perhaps he suffered for his impatience more than for anything 
else. 

6. By reasoning and contending with the devil, and a iceak 
conscience, with a dearth both of faith and love in the heart. 
This places the soul in circumstances most disadvantageous. A 
baptism of love would go far to silence the devil ; it certainly 
would heal the soul, and procure its triumph. Satan can bear 
anything better than to see a Christian, against whom he is 
waging war, rejoicing ivith joy unspeakable, in the midst of his 
fiercest assaults. When such an event takes place, he usually 
leaves the field. The sooner, therefore, my friend, you obtain 
such a baptism, the better. Nothing but this can ever heal your 
diseased conscience, or raise you above the particular troubles 



THE CONVERT UNDER SORE TEMPTATION. 309 

which have so painfully annoyed you. "Make haste, make 
haste to love," said a good man in Spain, to one of a scrupulous 
conscience, "Make haste to love; and the scruples will fall 
away, which rise but from a fearful heart ; 'for perfect love casts 
out fear?" I have always admired that saying of the Eev. John 
Newton : " Love and fear are like the sun and moon, seldom 
seen together." Love is what you want, then, — perfect love. 
This will not only " cast out all fear that has torment" (1 John 
4: 18), but it will impart a power to the soul, by which it will 
be enabled to render a cheerful obedience to the precepts of this 
royal Gospel law, as well as to the dictates of a sound and 
enlightened conscience : 

" Inflame our hearts with perfect love ; 
In us the work of faith fulfil ; 
So not heaven's host shall swifter move 
Than we on earth to do thy will." 

It is Archbishop Leighton, I think, who defines the labor of 
love to be the labor of rest ; — rest even in the motion it com- 
municates, because such motion is so natural and sweet to the 
soul that loves. True love to God, he says, loves the labor of 
love, as it is a service to him that is loved. Love has its 
motions, but they are heavenly and circular; — still in God, 
beginning and ending in him; — yet not ending, but moving still 
without weariness. He compares the motions and labor of love 
to the revolution of the heavens, which is motion in rest, chang- 
ing not place, though running still. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE INSUFFICIENCY OF INFIDELITY. 

Has my infidel reader never read the story of one Aristoxenus, 
the musician? So great was his admiration of his profession 
that he defined the human soul to be nothing more than a harmony. 
You, from a baser motive, love of sin, define your soul to be " a 
part and parcel " of materialism. 

"This ardent hope, this fond desire, 
This longing after immortality," 

I consider to be the universal feeling of our race, with the 
exception of an unfortunate few, — those to whom, by a wicked 
course of life, immortality has been rendered undesirable. Look 
at the inferior animals ; there is not one desire in their nature 
for which a benevolent Creator has not made a provision. A 
desire for immortality is one of the u leading passions" of man. 
Has the Author of our being left this wholly unprovided for? 

Do you think, my friend, that I misunderstand your character? 
I never can lose sight of the fact, that there is nothing in infidel- 
ity for which any intelligent man would seriously contend a 
single moment, unless necessitated to do so by irregular morals. 

If it be the fact that you desire " to live on terms of amity 
with vice," then, in order to sin without disturbance, "till noth- 
ing moves your consistency in ill," the readiest way is, to 
" harden your heart in the forge of bad principles," and school it 
on " the anvil of despair," till it bids defiance to the strokes of 
conscience. 

I feel inclined to apply to your lengthy lucubrations the 
sentiment of a witty individual : " The burning of a little straw 
may hide the stars of heaven, but the stars are still there, and 



THE INSUFFICIENCY OF INFIDELITY. 311 

will presently reappear." Your bundle of infidel straw, kindled 
by a spark from your own forge, has, indeed, raised considerable 
smoke; and it aspires and spreads along the heavens, and 
threatens to cast into eternal obscurity every sacred star of truth. 
Lest you would increase your sin by cavilling at the declarations 
of your Maker in the Bible, I shall employ " the dying breath- 
ings " of one of your repenting brethren to blow away some of 
the smoke. May God make his sad and mournful end an 
eternal blessing to you ! The thought has just struck me that 
you would not be offended, if I preface it with the following 
lines, with which I doubt not you are familiar : 

,c Sure 'tis a serious thing to die, my soul ! 
What a strange moment must it be, when, near 
Thy journey's end, thou hast the gulf in view! 
That awful gulf, no mortal e'er repassed, 
To tell what 's doing on the other side. 
Nature runs back, and shudders at the sight, 
And every life-string bleeds at thought of parting : 
For part they must ; body and soul must part ; 
Proud couple ! linked more close than wedded pair. 
This wings its way to its Almighty Source, 
The witness of its actions, — now its Judge ; 
That drops into the dark and noisome grave, 
Like a disabled pitcher, of no use." 

Upon the bed of his last sickness lay a dying sinner. His 
character may be best learned by attending to his bitter com- 
plainings when approaching that " awful gulf," from whence he 
never returned : " My physician tells me I must die, and I feel 
that he tells me the truth. In my best hours, and in my worst, 
death has been perpetually upon my mind ; it has covered me 
like a dread presence ; weighed me down like an ocean ; blinded 
me like a horrid vision ; imprisoned my faculties as with bars 
and gates of iron. Often and often, when, in saloons, alive with 
mirth and splendor, I have seemed the gayest of the inmates, 
this thought and fear of death have shot through my mind, and 
I have turned away sick and shuddering. What is it, then, to 
approach the reality ? to feel it very near, — nay, close at hand ? 
stealing on, and on, and on, like the tide upon the shore, not to 



312 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

be driven back till it has engulfed its prey? What is it to 
apprehend the approach of the time when you must be a naked, 
guilty, trembling spirit, all memory, and all consciousness, never 
again for a single moment to sleep, or know oblivion from the 
crushing burden of the ' deeds done in the body'? The dying 
may, indeed, be in a place of torment, — in hell, — before the 
time; and the remembrance of past life, stripped of all its 
deceptions, shrivelled into insignificance, may appear, in con- 
nection with eternity, but as a tiny shell tossed on the broad 
black surface of an ocean ; then, again, the intense importance 
of that very insignificant fragment of time, and the intense 
remembrance of all that occupied it; — its schemes, and dreams, 
and sins, and vanities, sweeping across the mind, in solemn 
order, like a procession of grim shadows, with death waiting to 
embosom all. O ! well may I smite upon my breast, and cry, 
with all but despair : ' Woe is me for the past ! woe, woe, for 
the past ! ' Every dream is dissolved, — every refuge of lies is 
plucked from me, — every human consolation totters beneath 
me, like a bowing wall ; and all the kingdoms of the world, and 
all the glory of them, could not bribe from my soul the remem- 
brance of a single sin. Ambition, pleasure, fame, friendship, lie 
around like wrecks ; and my soul is helpless in the midst of them, 
like the mariner on his wave-worn rock." 

The above is all that I feel inclined to oppose, at present, to 
your theories. To me it is awfully conclusive. You may smile at 
my weakness, but I never felt a stronger determination in all my 
life to live — if it were for no other regard than my death-bed 
scene — a holy and a blameless life. What has been one man's 
case may be mine, — yours. That which caused a capacious 
mind — a man of such splendid talents and acquirements — to 
tremble and be dismayed, may affect both you and myself, 
though of far inferior talents, if unprepared. O, sir, think of 
these things in time ! Prepare to meet thy God ! " Sure, it is 
a solemn thing to die, my soul." The dying man spoke of the 
thought and fear of death having darted across his mind in the 
gayest assemblies; that they followed him everywhere, and 
attended him as a presence, in his best and worst hours. Has 



THE INSUFFICIENCY OF INFIDELITY. 313 

not every sinner living something- of this apprehension, more or 
less ? Are you never annoyed with anything of the kind ? If 
not just now, have there been no such visitations in past life ; 
no such secret, unaccountable intrusions, which have thrown 
their shadows across your soul, and awakened feelings which 
you could not allay, — created an uneasiness which has not 
easily subsided ? " Man, know thyself; " — an accomplishment 
this, quite as necessary for you as for the heathen who had it 
inscribed over the door of his temple. 

You put me in mind of a spider, running up and down, hither 
and thither, with a little thread ; wasting its own body, and 
wearing out its vitals, to make a curious web. No sooner is it 
finished, than the besom, with one wild sweep, destroys the gay 
and airy fabric, and often, along with it, the unfortunate spider. 
Your web of sophistry will one day be torn to pieces, either by 
the besom of truth, wielded by the Holy Spirit ; or by death, 
the most emphatic and conclusive of all preachers. Job 8 : 14 is 
worth your attention ; and the effects of your principles are very 
strikingly noticed in Isaiah 59 : 4, 5. 

All you have written only goes to prove the truth of the 
testimony of one now with God, who, in his day, looked closely 
into your principles. " Infidelity grounds its existence on the 
fancied cheats it discovers in religious creeds, without having 
one original virtue to entitle it to respect. It is a system of nega- 
tives, — if system that may be called, whose only boast is, that it 
discovers errors in revelation, and hence assumes a title to credit, 
by instructing its votaries to disbelieve. Under the influence of 
this pure negation of excellence, it promotes its interests by the 
irritation of those passions which it should be the business of 
our lives to subdue, and fortifies itself in those strange commo- 
tions which it contributes to raise." 

There is a pretty and poetic sentimentalism in your views of 
death. Had you flourished in the days of a certain old poet, I 
fear his rude grapples would have disturbed your ideas. I 
question now whether your flowers can bear the following, 
although little more than half a blast : 
21 



314 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

" Strange to tell, 
Bold sinners rant it all the way to hell ; 
Like fish that play in Jordan's silver stream, 
They bathe in sensual lusts, and never dream 
Of that dead sea to which the stream doth tend, 
And to their pleasure puts a fatal end ! " 

I admit that real repentance may not visit the death-beds of 
your characters ; but I cannot allow you to say, without contra- 
diction, that remorse and terror never pay such a visit in their 
last hours. There is no necessity to go back to hardened Nero, 
who cried out, in desperation, "Have I no friend nor enemy to 
rid me out of my pain?" Nor to Julian the Apostate, who is 
reported to have taken into his hand some of his own blood, and 
flung it into the air, exclaiming, " Thou hast conquered me, oh 
Galilean ! " — meaning Jesus Christ. The conduct of pagan 
bravadoes in extremity, given by a heathen writer, is quite 
illustrative of that of your modern infidel heroes, in the hour of 
death. Hear the testimony of this heathen : " When the Grecian 
forces hotly pursued us, and we must needs venture over the 
great water Strymon, frozen then, but beginning to thaw, when 
a hundred to one we had all died for it ; with mine own eyes I 
saw many of those gallants, whom I had heard before so boldly 
maintain there was no God, every one upon their knees, with 
eyes and hands lifted up, begging for help and mercy, and 
entreating that the ice might hold till they got over." It is not 
to be denied that some of your sort die in a calm ; but it only 
goes to prove that sentiment, "Their hope shall be as the 
giving up of the ghost." Job 9 : 20. " They retain their hope 
to the last," says a commentator, " and the last breath they 
breathe is the final and eternal termination of their hope. They 
give up their hope and their life together." 

Conversing- one day with a missionary in Quebec, he told me 
the following well-attested fact : In a tavern, a number of men 
were standing, talking upon various subjects, among whom was 
an infidel of the foulest character. A gentleman of his acquaint- 
ance, turning to him, said, "I have heard, sir, that you deny the 
existence of a God, of a devil, and of a hell. Is it so?" The 



THE INSUFFICIENCY OF INFIDELITY. 315 

man replied, " I believe there is a place of rest, and that place is 
the grave ; but no man, while I live, shall ever persuade me 
there is a hell." These words had scarcely passed his lips when 
his head dropped, and, reclining upon the shoulders of one of his 
companions, all was silent ! When they laid hold of him, he 
was a corpse ! 

The dying hours of a certain great poet of the present century 
would seem to make in your favor; though it evidently appears 
he was on the point of yielding. A little before death, he asked, 
with deep emotion, " Shall I sue for mercy ? " A few minutes 
after, he mustered fortitude to exclaim, "Come, come, — I must 
resume my bravery, and die like a man ! " To these instances 
may be opposed the testimony of another. His wife, seeing him 
in great distress, said, " My dear, you appear as if your heart 
were breaking." He replied, "Let it break; let it break; but 
it is hard work to die ; " and added, with a piercing look, " Lord, 
have mercy ! Jesus, save ! " and expired. 

On the bed of his last illness lay one of your brethren, in a 
certain town. The door opened, and a companion who had first 
led him into the path of vice entered. The dying infidel, recov- 
ering himself for a moment, recognized him with a bitter smile, 
saying, " Behold thy work; thou hast done this ! " The wretch 
approached, and began to pour into his ear his sophistical argu- 
ments. Whatever effect they might have had upon the man in 
health, they had lost all their efficacy upon him, in this awful 
hour. Turning a face pale with rage, he cried, " Leave me ! 
begone ! you have poisoned my existence ; you have directed 
my soul to hell ; and dare you, in this hour, torture your 
victim?" The man slunk away rebuked, and left the room, 
perhaps, in his turn, to die the same miserable death. The poor 
infidel raved, swore, and blasphemed, till the nurse, unable to 
bear the horrible scene, fled, and left him to die alone. 

The sullen silence of a death-bed is a poor argument for the 
triumphs of infidelity. It is not till such men are past speaking 
that their terrors, perhaps, begin. Some years ago, a bad man 
fell into a certain river ; he was not permitted to remain there 
till the "vital spark" had fled, but was with difficulty restored 



316 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

to consciousness. He was asked what his feelings were when 
drowning. " The most horrible," said he, " you can conceive. 
All the sins I ever committed rushed at once into my mind, and 
conscience portrayed the 'whole to me ; yea, I beheld the flames 
of hell kindled before me." 

Before I sailed for this country, when in the State of Massa- 
chusetts, a man of God, in whose veracity I had the most per- 
fect confidence, related to me an account of a couple of deaths 
which had taken place. The first had carried out your princi- 
ples to their true results. " I often conversed with him," said 
my friend, " and urged him to renounce his infidelity. The last 
time I saw him, he got very angry : 

'As if the legion-fiend his soul possessed, 
And a whole hell were worrying in his breast ; 
And frenzy fired the bold blasphemer's cheek, 
He looked the curses which he could not speak.' " 

" Were it not," said he, " that you are an old man, I would 
certainly horsewhip you." " I am glad," answered my friend, 
" that anything saves me from your vengeance ; but hear me." 
He grew worse and worse, till God could apparently restrain his 
wrath no longer. He was struck with death at an unexpected 
hour. His agony of mind was greater than that of his body. 
He felt himself cited to appear before the eternal Judge. His 
diseased body could not live, but his disconsolate soul under- 
stood too well the risk of dying. His refuges of lies failed him, 
under the convincing arguments of death. Finding death un- 
avoidable, he hastened to be away. It is not for me to say 
whether, even then, the Spirit of God was still not striving to 
•the uttermost ; but you know, sir, it is possible for a man 

" To feel his heart can bleed, yet not repent ; 
To sigh, yet not recede ; to grieve, yet not relent." 

Terror and distraction increased to such a degree that he 
entreated his physician to kill him. Receiving, of course, a 
prompt refusal, he turned to some of his neighbors, beseeching 
them to despatch him. But he died! 



THE INSUFFICIENCY OF INFIDELITY. 317 

The second case was that of a surgeon, a man of talents. He 
had not, it seems, the cold privilege allowed such a character by 
a poet : 

"He that will be cheated to the last, 
Delusions, strong as hell, shall bind him fast." 

That guilt, which had stood its ground so long against the 
threatenings of God, was arrested suddenly by death ; and, with 
very little warning, he found himself on the very verge of time, 
just on the point of appearing before his justly-offended Maker. 
The frequent gleams of remorse — transient, it is true — which he 
had experienced when in health, had now kindled into a flame 
of mental agony. He had by some means arrived at a certainty 
that he must not entertain any other prospect than that of spend- 
ing an eternity in hell. The scene was one which cannot be 
described. Visiters fled in terror from his room. Only one 
wicked Universalist had the courage to remain with him. But 
he could not, after the surgeon's death, be persuaded to relate 
the terrific utterances connected with his last breathings. 

Ah ! sir, your principles should yield you much advantage, 
with a great deal of comfort through life ; for I assure you there 
is nothing in them to afford you consolation in a dying hour. 

That was a true saying of an old divine, that God was longer 
in destroying Jericho than creating a world. When Adam and 
Eve had sinned, it was not before the cool of the evening that 
the voice of the Lord God was heard in the garden. But it was 
the voice of God " walking," not running, affording, even then, 
an illustration of those attributes of his nature, " Merciful, gra- 
cious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth ; keep- 
ing mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, 
and sin." An old writer has somewhere said that "Justice 
pursues the enemies of God with leaden wings, but that it will 
lay hold of them sooner or later with hands of iron." 

A few years ago, in the winter, a large sleigh-stage started 

with twelve persons from Hoboken, opposite New York, for the 

city of Albany, on the Hudson river. Among the passengers 

was a most interesting young lady, deeply devoted to God, on 

27* 



318 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

her way to be married to a missionary in Persia. There were 
also an elderly gentleman, from the State of Ohio, and a young 
man ; but all strangers to each other. 

Sleigh-riding, in that country, is a very pleasant and animated 
method of travelling. All were in a pleasant mood, enjoying the 
scenery. Passing through several towns and small villages, it 
was remarked, " What an aspect of comfort and respectability is 
evident in places which are graced by the spire of a church ! " 
The elderly person alluded to said that he had travelled and 
seen much in his time, but he would give it as a fruit of his 
observation, "Wherever there was a church, and stated minis- 
ter, the people five or six miles round were more orderly, sober, 
and circumspect, than were those who did not enjoy such a 
privilege." 

This brought the young whiskered gentleman fully out. He 
was just returning from college, where he had been preparing 
for one of the learned professions. As the old friend had in- 
truded religion, he would give his opinion. " Priestcraft, witch- 
craft, and all the crafty doctrines of Christianity," said he, " were 
only devised to scare the ignorant. The laws of Lycurgus are 
far superior to those of Moses. There is nothing to be feared 
from death ; at the most, it is nothing more than a leap in the 
dark." 

The weather set in very bad, with rain in abundance, during 
several hours. At every tavern, while the horses drank water, 
the driver helped himself to rum. The winter road led them 
unto the bosom of the Hudson, covered with ice ; and when upon 
its surface, they discovered their danger. Late rains had affected 
the ice, and the horses were up to their knees in snow and water. 
A deep and powerful river ran beneath them, with bold and 
craggy shores on either hand. A heavy snow-storm came on ; 
the risk of plunging into air-holes was evident to all. The 
heads of the horses could scarcely be seen through the storm ; 
and the man of the whip drove on, declaring he neither feared 
death nor the devil. 

All felt, should the ice give way (and it Was becoming worse 
and worse), their destruction was inevitable. 



THE INSUFFICIENCY OF INFIDELITY. 319 

The distress of the young infidel was not to be concealed. 
He trembled from head to foot, but was silent. 

The young lady appeared pale and thoughtful, as she opened 
a small travelling-basket, and took out a little red book, turned 
over a few pages, and fixed her eye upon a passage. After a few 
moments, she closed the book, and shut her eyes. " The secret 
of the Lord is with them that fear him." The paleness dis- 
appeared from her cheek, and a glow of heavenly peace and con- 
fidence suffused her beautiful countenance. 

God was gracious to them ; and, as they proceeded up the 
river, a way of escape from their peril opened. While chang- 
ing horses at the hotel, one of the party asked her, very politely, 
but with an interest 1 she appreciated, what it was she found in 
the little book which seemed to have such a happy effect upon 
her mind. " The book, sir," said she, " is named ■ Daily Food 
for Christians;' being a text for every day in the year. The 
one which gave me so much comfort was the text for this day : 
11 As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is 
round about his people, from henceforth, even forever." Ps. 
125 : 2. 

We may say of the infidel, and all who travel in the paths of 
wickedness, " The way of transgressors is hard." None who 
have ever faithfully walked in those of righteousness have found 
them contrary to that other declaration of the Holy Ghost: "Her 
ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." 

" He that has light within his own clear breast 
May in the centre sit, and see bright day ; 
But he that hides a dark soul, and foul thoughts, 
Benighted walks, under the mid-day sun ; 
Himself is his own dungeon!" 



CHAPTER XII. 

INFIDELITY AND FAITH CONTRASTED. 

Doubtless you have read Ephesians 1 : 18, — " The eyes of 
your understanding being enlightened." This implies that the 
mind has a looking faculty, as well as the body ; and that our 
Creator has provided light as admirably adapted to the wants of the 
mental eyes, as natural light for those of the body. The Ephesians, 
it appears, had been blind. Total darkness renders the eyes use- 
less, while it continues. St. John speaks of a sinner walking in 
darkness, not knowing whither he is going, " because the dark- 
ness hath blinded his eyes." Now, a man may close his eyes 
against the light, and place himself in circumstances as if sur- 
rounded by darkness, or he may destroy them altogether. I 
have read of an old philosopher, who put out his own eyes that 
he might not be disturbed by light. Would it not have been 
very irrational, had that man denied the existence of light, and 
affirmed that those objects said to be discernible through such 
a medium were all imaginary ? Suppose he had been present 
at a lecture, in which the sun, moon, earth, sea, and colors, were 
the subjects of discussion ; but, on returning home, should enter- 
tain his friends with the absurdities of the lecturer, showing all 
to have been nothing more than a mere tissue of falsehood, — that 
such things had no other existence than as the brain-creations 
of him who desired to secure their money. " I can only believe 
what I see," he might say, "and, therefore, it is all fabulous." 
Which would his hearers say he had flung away from him, his 
philosophy, or his reason ? " Both," you will reply. Are you 
not aware, my dear sir, that this is the ridiculous position in 
which you have placed yourself? By a sophistry peculiarly 
infidel, you have either put out your mental eyes, or closed them 
so firmly that the light of truth shines no more into your soul ; 



INFIDELITY AND FAITH CONTRASTED. 321 

or, you have let the devil do it for you ; 2 Cor. 4 : 3, 4. But, is 
it rational in you to deny that the light of truth is still in 
existence, or assert that those subjects made evident to the 
mental vision by faith's " realizing light " are as " unsubstantial 
as a dream " ? 

Had the old philosopher insisted that all other persons were 
blind, because he had chosen to make himself so, would men 
favored with sight have believed him ? You have read of foolish 
Harpaste, spoken of by Seneca, who, insensible of her own blind- 
ness, always complained that the sun was down, and the house 
dark ; but who, in daylight and sunshine, could have believed 
Harpaste ? It is thus that infidels now talk ; and shall those 
who live under the full blaze of Gospel day believe them ? 

" Infidelity, grown bold with joy, 
Forth from his dark and lonely hiding-place, 
Owl-like comes forth, sailing on obscene wings 
Athwart the noon, and drops his blue-fringed eyelids, 
And holds them close, and, hooting at the sun, 
High in mid-heaven, cries out, ' Where is it ? ' " 

To revert again to the philosopher : admit that he and Madam 
Harpaste had been once familiar with light, and all the delight- 
ful varieties of visible things, which was really the case, — they 
must have become the veriest dupes in the world, had they 
affirmed that light was fabulous, and all the glowing descriptions 
given of the beauties of our world the " visionary creations of 
heated enthusiasts." Though the philosopher was much to 
blame for destroying his eyes, because light annoyed him, I shall 
not insult his memory by bringing this unfounded charge against 
his understanding. There is, however, no unmerited contempt 
offered to your character; nor am I preferring a false charge 
against your judgment, when I assert its applicability to you in 
matters of religion. Once you were as familiar with the lighl 
of the Gospel as with that of day, nor were you any less certain 
of things invisible than of those magnificent aspects and pleasing 
features of the spacious landscape spread around your dwelling 
by the hand of your Creator. Now that " the light has become 
darkness," and that invisible world a blank (only to yourself, 



322 KEVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

observe, for others see and believe), allow me to say how greatly 
it affects me, to perceive you either the dupe of your own imposi- 
tions, having permitted the devil to swindle you out of principles 
which were at once your honor and your wealth, or basely act- 
ing the hypocrite, in denying the existence of those things you 
once believed, and which your secret conscience may whisper 
still exist. The feeling is deepened by the probability that the 
last conclusion is the correct one, — that the impression of their 
reality has not as yet entirely faded from your mind. What 
was said of another soi-disant infidel, not improbably may apply 
to you : 

"He almost thinks he disbelieves, indeed, 
But only thinks so ; to give both their due, 
Satan and he believe and tremble too." 

As you have closed your eyes, beware lest your doings are 
against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory, Is. 3 : 8 ; and 
lest that should come upon you which he has threatened in 
Ezekiel 5: 11. Upon the bed of his last sickness lay one of 
your brethren in infidelity ; he was asked a question, to which 
his countenance replied, before he had uttered a word : " Are 
your principles sufficient to sustain you in this trying hour ? " 
He answered, sternly, " No ; " and, after a pause, unable to 
restrain his feeling, he exclaimed, " Surely I am the greatest 
fool in the world to have become the dupe of wicked and design- 
ing men ; I am justly consigned to that hell, the idea of which I 
once laughed at." Offers of pardon through the blood of the 
Lamb were freely presented, but sadly and sullenly put away. 
He heard the exhortation with patience, till "penitent sinner" 
was mentioned; when he cried, "Penitent sinner! I am not 
penitent. It is the fear of eternal damnation that is at work 
upon my guilty soul; this is nothing else but a pledge and fore- 
taste of the misery of the damned. Eternal fire ! eternal fire ! 
who can dwell with everlasting burnings ? My body cannot 
live, and my soul dare not die. that I had another day ! but 
this would be of no use ; I must perish, and reconcile myself to 
my lot as I can ; I am dying ! I am dying ! " A second attempt 



INFIDELITY AND FAITH CONTRASTED. 323 

was made to turn his despairing conscience to the cross, which 
he heard with more than usual patience. When the individual 
ceased, he became very restless, and at last shrieked fearfully, 
crying, " See ! see ! do you not see them ? They are come for 
me. I must go to my own place." The horror on his counte- 
nance was infernal. His last words were, " Damned, damned, 
forever damned ! " 

You say, " Christianity is a fable ; " have you ever read of 
any faithful believer dying thus ? Surely were it for nothing 
else than to avoid the terrors of a death-bed, the comfortless and 
dangerous system of infidelity should be abandoned. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

INFIDELS NOT SINCERE. 

My persuasion is deepened, as I become acquainted with 
infidels, that there are few of them honest in the sentiments 
they pretend to entertain. A wicked course of life necessitates 
most infidels to espouse and contend for such principles. The 
following is a correct illustration of your position, as well as of 
many others : Two gentlemen, infidels, often held free conver- 
sation before an illiterate countryman. One of them was after- 
wards converted to God. Fearing that injury had been done to 
the poor man, he, on a proper occasion, expressed a concern on 
the subject in his presence, and inquired whether their opinions 
had left any bad impression upon his mind. " By no means," 
said the peasant, " it never had any effect upon me." " But 
you must have known that we knew more than you ; having 
better opportunities both for reading and thinking." "Yes," 
he rejoined, "but I was aware of your manner of living. I 
knew that, to maintain such a course of conduct, you found it 
necessary to renounce Christianity." 

Were it not for this, no rational mind could find anything 
charming in infidelity. It denies everything, but what does it 
affirm ? and what but a vicious mind could find pleasure in a 
system of negatives ? There is not a moral light under heaven 
that it does not attempt to extinguish. If successful in blowing 
it out, nothing but a blank is offered instead, and a fatal neces- 
sity of stumbling onward into deeper darkness. " If your system 
be true," said one to an infidel, " you have a bleak and comfort- 
less lot ; but if false, forever miserable is your fate, because you 
are making no preparation for it." 

It is easy and pleasant to reason with a mind sincerely search- 
ing for truth, and willing to abide by it when found. But it is 



INFIDELS NOT SINCERE. 325 

a difficult affair to break down a conscience embarrassed in its 
operations by passions enslaved to vice. 

"Against experience he believes, 
Argues against demonstration ; 
Pleased when his reason he deceives, 
And sets his judgment by his passion." 

So true is the old proverb, " Men readily believe what they 
wish to be true." 

A few weeks ago, when in Limerick, I was conversing with 
the captain of a ship in port on the peculiarities of the mariner's 
compass. Speaking of its variations, he told me that difficulties 
frequently occur when sailing through a certain gulf, in conse- 
quence of vast masses of iron ore in the neighboring moun- 
tains. So intense is the magnetic action from that source, that 
the needle is often drawn one or two points from the truth. 
" Should the helmsman," he added, "allow himself, under such 
circumstances, to be guided by its dictates, it would bring him 
to the rocks of shipwreck. I have known the influence so pow- 
erful, when the wind was in a certain direction, that I have had 
to put my finger within the box, and shake the card, before the 
needle could be freed from the embarrassment ; then it came 
round to the true point, and stood and trembled there." 

Shall I assist you in making the application ? Your vicious 
habits and gusts of temptation conspire to derange the opera- 
tions of your mind, and perplex your conscience. Thus situated, 
reason must not steer by these, unless you desire to strike the 
rocks of eternal destruction. The error of a sinner's ways, 
James 5 : 20, and his belching out error in sentiment, are 
closely united. Working iniquity, speaking villany, practising 
hypocrisy, and uttering error in doctrine against the Lord, are 
singularly interwoven in Isaiah 32 : 6. 

Your vices, unlike those mountains of iron ore, may be easily 
removed ; then shall your mind and conscience harmonize with 
your chart, the Bible ; and reason safely steer by the divine 
dictates. In such a case, were I allowed to be the pilot, there 
would be little difficulty in keeping your opinions in the proper 
28 



326 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

course, till conducted into a safe anchorage in the harbor of 
redeeming love. Until you are willing to abandon those scenes 
and persons connected with your sinful course, it is useless for 
me to continue a controversy with you upon such subjects. 

<J A man convinced against his will, 
Is of the same opinion still." 

So long as your soul is debasingly attached to those habits to 
which you refer, my argument might, indeed, disturb you a little, 
as the captain's finger the card of the compass, and no more. 
Without a continual shaking, the influence of those "local causes" 
would, I greatly fear, prove the truth of that mournful senti- 
ment, 

" Experience but too plainly shows 
That man can act against the truth he knows." 

The hell awaiting you is terrible, if you persevere in your 
present wicked and inconsistent course. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

INFIDEL OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 

In two respects, I perceive, the infidels in Europe resemble 
those in America : 1st. Rejecting everything. 2nd. Affirming 
nothing. You consider Christianity false, but you seem quite 
unable to give us anything better. Why, then, should you be 
angry with " the Christians," ignorant or intelligent (as you 
please), if they are tenacious of what they have, till they know 
what it is they are going to receive in exchange ? 

" Several of the doctrines of Christianity," you say, " I can- 
not believe." 

Quite likely. Why not? 

" They are inconsistent." 

With what ? 

" With reason ; I cannot comprehend them, and I will venture 
to say no man can ! " 

That is not unlikely. 

" I never will believe what I do not understand." 

Then you will never become a philosopher. 

" The following are my arguments in support of the princi- 
ples (?) I have advanced ; they have cost me much pains and 
trouble." 

So did a broomstick the Dutch painter; for he spent three 
whole days in painting one, and after all it was only a broom- 
stick. 

" By what mode of reasoning would you undertake to refute 
them ? " 

I shall answer you as a lady did one of your brethren. In a 
large party, he had been repeating a number of absurdities to 
prove that men had no souls. The company contented them- 
selves with staring at him, instead of " answering the fool accord- 



328 



REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 



ing to his folly." Addressing a lady, he asked, with an air of 
triumph, what she thought of his arguments. She replied, " It 
appears to me, sir, you have been employing a good deal of 
talent to prove yourself a beast! " 

You go on, " I know I am a sinner, nor is it likely I shall die 
anything else, according to Bible notions; but I object to an 
eternity of punishment for a class of sins committed by a finite 
being. Infinite for finite is too much." 

But is it fitting that you should decide upon the penalty, your- 
self being the transgressor, and God the injured party? Sup- 
pose the courts of justice in these kingdoms should let every 
criminal determine the degree of punishment he should suffer ; 
would there be any adequate penalty in the land ? Such deci- 
sions come from a higher quarter. Thus the majesty of the law 
is upheld, and human rights secured. Most capital crimes are 
committed in a few minutes ; yet for these the wisest law-givers 
of all ages and nations have inflicted the punishment of death, 
or privation of liberty to the end of natural life. Why not 
attempt a reformation in the civil law ? If your principles are 
right, all governments, divine and human, are wrong. If there 
be a God in heaven, and this earth belongs to him, he governs 
it. If the creatures upon it are accountable, he has given them 
laws as a rule of conduct. Sin is a transgression of that law, 
and a penalty is attached to its violation. Pardon is offered 
during natural life, on the conditions of repentance, and faith in 
the "atonement. Here is mercy, which reaches every sinner's 
case. Who can object to this ? The soul is eternal in its exist- 
ence, and therefore cannot die with the body. The monarch of 
heaven and earth has decreed the penalty of " eternal punish- 
ment" upon every soul that leaves the body in a state of sin. 
He who can receive this doctrine of revelation, let him do so, 
and live accordingly; but whosoever cannot, let him prepare to 
abide the consequences in eternity. Are you able to set limits 
to the heinousness of sin perpetrated against the laws of an 
infinite God? If sin merit punishment for a moment, are you 
sure it demands it not through eternity ? But you will inquire, 
" Upon what principle ? " On that of its continuance. A sin- 



INFIDEL OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 329 

ner dying a sinner, continues on through eternity. If he remains 
a sinner always, shall not the penalty coexist with the crime ? 
The torments of hell can no more put an end to the soul's sin- 
ning, than a pump in a river could drain it dry. It may throw 
out some water, but the source is exhaustless — the river remains. 
The argument, therefore, stands thus: "Endless sin creates 
a never-ending hell; a punishment, one would think, quite suf- 
ficient to warn you away from an ' experiment ' that may be 
everlasting." 

" I cannot believe there is a hell ; who, alive, has ever seen 
it?" 

This is a very foolish objection, but it is not original. An old 
American sinner used nearly the same words; but his little 
grandchild, hanging on his knee, looking up in his face, said, 
" But you have never been dead yet, grandfather ! " 

You go on, " I once had those horrible feelings about my soul 
which you describe in your declamations, but since the adoption 
of my present views I have been quite easy." 

To this I reply : Some years ago a Socinian was travelling 
in Wales, and, meeting with an unlearned Welshman, broached 
his Christ-degrading doctrines, affirming that Christ was a mere 
man, and his blood of no more value than that of any other 
human being. The peasant, gazing steadfastly in his face, 
said, " Sir, what did that opinion cost you? I'll tell you. It 
cost you many a hard battle ! Long have you fought hard con- 
tests with your own conscience, and in many engagements have 
been overcome. You have at length so triumphed over your 
foe, that you have become the dupe of your own imposition." 
Is this not applicable to you, sir ? I wish it would affect you as 
it did the Socinian, who confessed that he never had a blow 
equal to that from the Welsh peasant. 

But let us proceed. " I attended closely to the operations of 
my own mind. I philosophized upon the subject thus : ' I have 
stepped a little out of the beaten track of theology, and my hor- 
rors have subsided. This is the result of entertaining views of 
God different from those taught by men who have been earning 
their bread at the expense of my happiness. But I have my 
28* 



330 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

doubts upon other points of the Bible. If a slight deviation from 
popular opinions has relieved my mind so much, why not throw 
the remainder overboard ? ' I tried to do so, and at length suc- 
ceeded. I became confident, or ' wicked,' as you would say, in 
proportion to my quiet, and all uneasiness has long since 
departed." 

Yes, and the course you have pursued may prove quite as 
fatal to your soul as the following to the life of a young woman 
in one of the States of America. The treatment dispensed to 
your poor soul is so similar to the dreadful experiment practised 
upon her, that I think it worth the trouble of writing, although 
it may have no serious effect upon your mind. 

She was taken ill ; so much so, that a physician was sent for. 
After a- careful consideration of her case, he prepared two classes 
of powders, carefully folded and labelled. One of them was a 
preparation of opium, and the other a nauseating powder. When 
she took the former, she became quite easy ; but the latter made 
her very restless. A convention of the women of the neighbor- 
hood was called, and one of them addressed her neighbors thus : 
11 You see how it is ; the doctor must have a living, and have it 
by his trade, too. One kind of powder makes her better, — the 
other worse ; if he gave her only the bad kind, you see, he 
would soon kill her ; and the good would speedily cure her ; so 
that in either case he would have a small bill. This is why he 
gives two kinds. Now, let us act according to common sense, in 
disregard of the doctor's orders, whose interest it is to keep her 
still an invalid. Let us give her only the good powders." The 
proposition was well received, with an amendment, by another 
good woman, " And let her have two of the good powders at a 
time ; " which was adopted. The patient became " quite easy," 
slept quietly, but she never awoke again. 

Notwithstanding your " quiet " upon religious subjects, con- 
science may possibly assist you to " make the application." 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE ANXIETY OF INFIDELS. 

A writer, some years ago, when commenting upon the con- 
cluding article of the infidel's creed, " I believe in all unbelief," 
remarked, that it might have been better expressed thus : " I 
believe in all absurdity, that I may justify my unbelief in the 
Scriptures." Your ingenuity reminds me of the sentiment of 
another : " If a man will bring me arguments against the Bible, 
I will thank him; if not, I shall invent them." 

If you are satisfied with your principles, why such anxiety to 
discuss them ? Surely you cannot imagine I should become a 
better man by believing as you do ; nor can I well conceive how 
you could suppose that my soul would improve the safety of its 
condition, by adopting your opinions. In no way could they be 
essential to my happiness, unless a complete change should take 
place in the honesty of my mind, and in the character of my 
morals. I feel perfectly willing to walk in the paths of right- 
eousness. There is nothing in sin desirable. Would it not, 
then, be quite foolish in me to throw up my hopes of immortality, 
which make me cheerful and happy ? Nay, it would be mad- 
ness to jeopardize my soul for nought ; post to hell without 
excuse ; and place myself under the possible necessity of being 
damned. It is not to be wondered that moles and bats love their 
dark receptacles, and hate the light and the sun. It is their 
nature to do so. But is this a good reason why the innocent 
and happy birds of heaven should hate the sun and his beams, 
and forsake the cheerful atmosphere to burrow in the earth, or 
flap their little wings amidst cobwebs and darkness? 

A gentleman in America, who had escaped from this snare of 
the devil, remarked to me, one day : " Two things may be said 



332 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. - 

of infidelity: 1. It is certain we can gain nothing by it; and, 
2. We may lose everything through it." 

Is it not a fact that you have serious misgivings as to the 
truth of your system ? An anxiety to gain your point in an 
argument is not against my surmise ; in this feeling there may 
be much of pride and selfishness, if not infernal malice. 

Is it not easy to conceive how a man may desire a thing to be 
true, although at heart he may doubt its truth ? 

I remember hearing of a case which happened, it was said, not 
far. from where I had charge of a congregation. An individual, 
who, by a course of sin, had rendered Universalism, or a disbelief 
of future punishment, essential to his happiness, was driving a 
yoke of oxen along the highway ; a neighbor of his, coming up 
behind him, overheard the following soliloquy: " I believe that 
Universalism (another name for infidelity) is true. I do believe 
it is true. Yes, I do ; and yet, I would give that yoke of oxen 
to be assured of its truth." 

You say, " From whence but from the Bible originated those 
strifes and contradictions of opinion which have distracted 
Christendom ? " 

But a writer some years ago insisted that dissensions in relig- 
ion flow from nothing else than ignorance of grammar ! Would 
it be wise in you to assert that the sun is the cause of all the 
wickedness and misery perpetrated beneath his beams, because 
he affords men light to work out the disorders of their nature, 
while he renders their infamous conduct visible ? Is there a man 
in these kingdoms who would agree with you in saying that we 
should be better off without the sun ; therefore, let him be blotted 
out of the heavens altogether ? If an individual miss his way 
in " broad day-light," is it likely he could succeed any better 
amidst the darkness of night? Ancient and modern paganism 
have long since answered this question. Permit me to inquire 
from what quarter the dissensions of infidelity have arisen, — I 
have never yet found two of your writers agreed. Each has a 
system of his own, widely different from all the rest. Christians 
differ, it is true, upon some minor points ; but they perfectly 
agree in all the essential doctrines of Christianity. 



THE ANXIETY OF INFIDELS. 333 

To your other objections against the Bible, I shall let a poet 
reply : 

" What none can prove a forgery, may be true ; 
What none but bad men wish exploded, must." 

" The greater part of professors of religion are hypocrites." 

I wonder you have not branded them all. 

"I have seen none that I could trust, — never." 

Probably not. Your father and mother were not Christians, 
I presume ; if they were, what a sad impression have they left 
upon your mind ! Perhaps you had forgotten them. A message 
from the death-bed of either might affect you as much as a 
similar event impressed one quite as bad as yourself. He had 
long renounced Christianity, and, while wandering in foreign 
parts, was the victim of infidelity. His pious mother was 
mourning and praying for her deluded son. Her last days were 
greatly embittered by reflecting on his dangerous errors. She 
was taken with sickness unto death, but her dying moments 
were employed in repeating his name, and dictating her last 
request, that he would abandon his infidelity, and return to the 
religion of his Saviour. After her death, his sister, to whom the 
document had been committed, forwarded it to her brother. The 
letter reached him beyond the seas ; and shortly after that 
another, containing the news of the death of that lovely sister. 
' 4 ' These two voices came upon me," he said, " as it were from 
the tomb." One death seemed to be the interpretation of the 
other in such a way as to strike him with a force that was 
irresistible. But hear his own words : " I became a Christian. 
I did not yield, I allow, to supernatural illuminations; but my 
convictions of the truth of Christianity sprang from the heart. 
I wept, and I believed." 

You say, " I never look down upon one of your Christians 
without a feeling of contempt." 

Accept the reply I heard a good man give to a similar bravado 
in America : " Look down upon a Christian ! were you to look 
as low as hell, you could not see a Christian. You must look 
aloft to behold him : he is above you." 



334 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

" 1 have not, it is true, associated much with those who have 
made any great pretensions to religion." 

I thought so ; and I doubt whether you have ever been under 
circumstances to test the honesty and piety of a real Christian. 

" But, I have been an observer of the great mass of your good 
Christians." 

Nominal Protestants; but I presume you do not know the 
difference : you are not careful about nice distinctions between 
nominal and real Christians. 

" Appearances or pretensions to religion always put me on my 
guard. The garb of Christianity is generally put on for the 
sake of advantage, — to cover some dark and villanous design. 
Were I a lonely traveller, I should be suspicious of the stranger 
whose mouth was full of Scripture. A sudden acquaintance 
with one maintaining silence upon such subjects would not so 
much alarm me." 

Sir, I cannot follow you through all your dark insinuations. 
The last few sentences confirm your own admission, that you 
have never associated much with Christians. They tend, also, to 
confirm my assertion, that you have never been placed in cir- 
cumstances adapted to prove to you which you would prefer, — 
a man " whose mouth was filled with Scripture," or one who 
maintained a sullen silence upon such subjects. If you have not 
had experience upon such matters, it is hoped you will profit by 
that of one of your brethren in America. The circumstance 
was not without its effect, when made known to the public. Two 
men, belonging to one of the States of New England, were 
travelling together into the western country, on business. One 
was an infidel, the other a Christian. The sceptic on almost 
every occasion intruded his injurious opinions; as if to prove 
himself the very character described by the poet : 

" The sprightlier infidel, as yet more gay, 
Fires off the next idea in his way ; 
The dry fag-ends of every obvious doubt, 
And puffs and blows for fear they should go out ; 
Boldly resolved, against conviction steeled, 
Nor inward truth nor outward fact to yield ; 



THE ANXIETY OF INFIDELS. 335 

Urged with a thousand proofs, he stands unmoved, 
Fast by himself, and scorns to be out-proved ; 
To his own reason loudly he appeals, 
No saint more zealous for what God reveals " 

When sorely pressed, he had still one resource always at hand, 
— to denounce religion as an imposture, and professors as hypo- 
crites; asserting that he felt "particularly exposed in the com- 
pany of Christians, and took especial care of horse and purse 
when the saints were around " him. 

They travelled westward, far into the wilderness. One night 
their situation was very trying ; and, for a time, they had no 
other prospect than to ride on till morning, or sit down, exposed 
to the inclemency of the weather. Having money about their 
persons, they dreaded robbers more than the wild beasts of the 
forest. Riding onward, they discovered a poor little hut; 
alighted, went in, and looked around. The house was as 
comfortless within as without ; and the inmates were not at all 
prepossessing. An elderly man, his wife and two sons, were 
the family; hardy, rough, and sunburnt. Although made 
welcome, they were suspicious. " These coarse people," they 
thought, " seem kind, but this may be to deceive us, and put us 
off our guard. The place is lonely; just fit for scenes of robbery 
and blood, and no help at hand, in case of extremity." Our 
travellers communicated their fears to each other. The sceptic 
was greatly agitated, and expressed fears that this might be the 
last night of their existence. Aware that to proceed would not 
lessen the danger, they agreed thus between themselves : " An 
appartment has been offered us ; we shall secure the door, have 
weapons of defence ready, one shall sleep while the other keeps 
watch, and, in case of extremity, we will sell our lives as dearly 
as possible." Having settled their plans, they joined the family 
at supper, after which they proposed to retire. The old man 
requested them to wait a little, * * =* and after a short pause 
said that it had been his practice in better days, and he con- 
tinued it still, to call his family together before they retired to 
rest, in order to commend them to God in prayer ; and, if the 
strangers had no objections, he should attend to it before they 



336 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

separated. The Christian rejoiced to find a brother in the 
wilderness, and the sceptic could not well conceal his satisfaction 
with the proposal. The family Bible was brought forward, and 
no dust had gathered upon its lids, although age had set its 
mark upon it. The old man selected a passage for the night, 
read it reverently ; after which, they all prostrated themselves 
before God, when the aged man's voice was raised in earnest 
supplication for divine protection. 

" When such a man, familiar with the skies, 
Has filled his urn where these pure waters rise, 
And once more mingles with us meaner things, 
'T is even as though an angel shook his wings, — 
The balmy influence is diffused around, 
And tells us where his treasures may be found." 

He was evidently a man of prayer, and it was quite as plain 
that his was a cottage where prayer was wont to be made. The 
travellers were not forgotten. He prayed that they might be 
preserved on their journey, and at the close of life's journey they 
might have an eternal home in heaven. After prayer they 
retired, and, according to previous arrangement, the infidel was 
to take the first watch ; but, instead of priming his pistols, and 
bracing his nerves for an attack, he was for wrapping himself in 
his great coat and blanket, as quietly as if he had never thought 
of danger. His friend reminded him of their dismal apprehen- 
sions, and inquired how he had come so suddenly to lose them. 
The infidel felt the force of the question, and of all that it implied. 
He frankly acknowledged the cause, — that he felt himself as safe 
as at a New England fireside, and should do so in any house or 
forest where the Bible was read as that old man read it, and 
prayer offered up as the old man prayed. Now, my dear sir, until 
you are placed under similar circumstances, or until you can 
explain satisfactorily to yourself how such a change could take 
place in that infidel's mind, without a conscious acknowledg- 
ment of the truth and power of the religion of the Bible, I cannot 
allow you, unrebuked, to deal in those unfair insinuations against 
the character of the Bible Christians. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

INFIDEL DEFENCES DEMOLISHED. 

Infidels of the present day are greatly at a loss for some 
original vigorous spirit, — one who could skim off the old discol- 
ored froth, and dive deeper than his predecessors into the stag- 
nant pool, in order to raise a new scum, wherewith to bespatter 
everything that looks like religion. 

"I never gathered from infidel writers, when an infidel 
myself," said a good man, " any solid difficulties, which were 
not brought to my mind by a very young child of my own." 
" Why was sin permitted ? What an insignificant world is this, 
to be redeemed by the incarnation and death of the Son of God ! 
Who can believe that so few will be saved ?" 

Time will not allow me to go through the whole of j^our 
" negativing sentimentalism." Seldom have I seen a production 
so illustrative of the sentiment of a modern writer : " One 
false principle will lead to a hundred false conclusions." Were 
it not that I know you were not in the world when the follow- 
ing was written, I should incline to believe you had helped the 
poet to the idea : 

" As rivers, though they bend and twine, 
Still to the sea their course incline ; 
Or, as philosophers, who find 
Some favorite system to their mind, 
In every point to make it fit, 
Will force all nature to submit." 

I shall, therefore, beg to be excused from " entering the lists " 
against fancies so ridiculous. There are, however, other senti- 
ments worthy of a passing remark. " If all the world were 
free-thinkers, — that is, free from the trammels of religion, and the 
prejudices of an education peculiar to itself," — what then? 
29 



338 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

" We should have quite a different world from what we have 
now." 

There is not a doubt of it. Suppose we call up France, with 
her witnesses. The experiment was tried there; she had a 
revolution in favor of infidelity ; but it clothed her in sackcloth, 
and drenched her in tears and blood. The civilized world stood 
aghast. Anarchy and cruelty, assassinations and wholesale 
murders, were the order of the day. " It turned," says a writer, 
" the hand of every man against his neighbor, sparing no age, 
nor sex, nor rank, till, satiated with the ruin of greatness, the 
distresses of innocence, and the tears of beauty, it terminated 
its career in the most unrelenting despotism." Infidelity had its 
reign ; — thank God, it was short, and confined to that unfortu- 
nate country. It was sufficiently long to allow the infinite God 
to burn a mighty lesson into the heart of thoughtless France, 
never to be forgotten ; long enough to set its bloody type upon 
the page of history. All civilized nations were compelled to 
denominate it " The Reign of Terror ! " deprecating its return 
in one universal voice : " ! never, while time rolls onward 
toward eternity, let us again see the crowded prisons, the head- 
less trunks, the spouting life-blood, the maniac features, of a 
revolution in favor of infidelity!" 

You stumble on : "I see nothing to hinder men from being 
upright and honest, who are infidels in principle." 

But I do. 

"Why should they not? Pray, tell me what is there in infi- 
delity so pernicious to sound morals ? " 

I ask you, in return, what one principle of infidelity can you 
point out that has not a direct tendency to foster immorality ? 
What law, what threatening, what obligation, or penalty of 
Christianity, does not infidelity attempt to repel? But take 
these away, and what rampart is left to withstand the overflow- 
ings of wickedness ? Has not infidelity renounced every safe- 
guard thrown around life, property, chastity, and character, by 
Christianity? And what is offered to the family of man, in 
return ? Can you point me to a single principle of infidelity, 



INFIDEL DEFENCES DEMOLISHED. 339 

not involved and centred in that question proposed by ancient 
infidels, " How doth God know?" 

Understand me ; I do not say that all infidels are glaringly 
immoral, though most of them are, and you know it. Look 
around your circle, and give an honest reply. To attribute 
" sound morals " to infidelity, is as unphilosophical as to impute 
effects to causes which never can produce them. Some of your 
brethren, I allow, — and it is a stretch of charity, — may spurn 
from them all that is mean and dishonorable. If so, the practice 
has been derived from principles which infidelity ridicules. 

" Infidels are willing to think, and let think." 

I never yet have found one of that sort. 

" They are rational, candid men. They have none of that 
fiery zeal and stubborn bigotry of the Christian party." 

You have either lost your senses, or you mean one thing 
while you express another. You must know that the facts are 
just the contrary. But one, who was once of your party, — an 
avowed infidel, — thought differently from you. He was well 
acquainted with infidel writers of all kinds, and especially with 
the most literary of the tribe. The following testimony was 
found among his papers, after death : " What sort of men are 
infidels ? They are loose, fierce, overbearing men. There is 
nothing in them like sober, serious inquiry. They are the 
wildest fanatics upon earth, nor have they agreed among them- 
selves upon any scheme of truth and felicity. Contrast the 
character of infidels with that of real Christians." Let the 
writings of infidels, and the hard sayings, wild imaginings, and 
unsettled notions, of your acquaintance, bear witness to the 
above charge. 

" Your Bible calls itself ' a lamp to our feet, and a light to 
our path.' But for what purpose has the light of nature been 
given us ? By this I mean the light of reason. This, it is 
true, is but like moonlight, but by it we can see all we want 
to see." 

Quite likely. 

" And of what use is a lamp in moonlight ? " 

Try if you cannot gather a reply out of the following inci- 



340 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

dent. I shall assist you by a hint or two in brackets. Some 
years ago, a gentleman accustomed to walk the streets of Phila- 
delphia, U. S., brought a charge against the corporation of that 
city. It appears that economic body regulated their gas by the 
almanac and moon. [Reason, or the light of nature.] When 
the almanac said " there is a moon," they did not light up. 
The complainant, returning home one night, had a stumbling 
time, jeoparding neck and limb. The moon was where she 
ought to be, but muffled up in thick clouds, and he had to pick 
his way by flashes of lightning. [Gleams of light from eternity 
upon the conscience, — flashes of terror from the violated law 
of God.] Getting into a better temper, as he proceeded with his 
complaints, he advised, that as moonlight or lightning was such 
a species of celestial dependence, as not to suit our terrestrial 
circumstances, better, rather than run the risk of breaking our 
necks [stumbling into hell], to keep the lamps lighted hereafter, 
[the Bible], whether we have moonlight [the light of reason] or 
not. Do you understand me ? 

You proceed, " Infidels should be men of integrity, as much 
so as any class of men in the world." 

Yes, but are they so ? Should I not rather inquire whether 
you are in your right mind ? Is it possible you can be entirely 
ignorant of the facts of the case ? What is there, I ask 
again, in your system, calculated to make and keep them 
such ? 

" They are free-thinkers and free-speakers, and what are they 
the worse for that ? " 

Why did you not add free-doers ? Perhaps you have read 
the following, as it has been published to the world; but facts 
will bear repeating. A certain gentleman, whose name and 
place of abode I need not mention, as they are not necessary to 
the moral of the story, was a great free thinker, and a free 
speaker, too, of his free thoughts. Being an infidel of the first 
rank, he made no scruple to disseminate his sceptical opinions 
wherever he could introduce them. Well, his free thoughts, 
with those of his lady, were so freely and frequently discussed, 
that the servants became quite as able disputants as the heads 



INFIDEL DEFENCES DEMOLISHED. 341 

of the family. Their free conversations at table fully convinced 
the servant who waited upon them. Persuaded, as he was, that 
for any of his misdeeds in this world he should have no after- 
account to make in another, he made free with as many valuables 
as he could appropriate without detection. Resolving at last to 
profit as much as possible from the doctrine, he laid a free hand 
upon his master's plate. The free highway was before him, to 
which he betook himself, free from his master and all obligation 
whatever, except that of eluding his pursuers. Their move- 
ments proving too rapid for the thief, he was caught, brought 
back with his booty, and examined, in the presence of an assem- 
bly, by his deeply-excited master. At first the man was sullen, 
and would answer no questions ; being urged to give a reason 
for his infamous behavior, he resolutely said : " Sir, I have so 
often heard you talk of the impossibility of a future state, and 
that after death there was no reward for virtue, nor any punish- 
ment for vice, that I was tempted to commit the robbery." "You 
rascal," replied the master, "had you no fear of the gallows?" 
" Sir," said the fellow, looking sternly at his master, " what is 
that to you, if I had a mind to venture that ? You had removed 
my greatest terror, — why should I fear the lesser ? " 

It was a powerful conviction of the risk of such, or more dan- 
gerous results, which led a certain great infidel abruptly to 
request a gentleman to be silent on the entrance of servants. 
When they had disappeared from the room, he apologized, — " If 
the servants should believe those sentiments, they might proba- 
bly cut our throats." 

When an infidel asked the opinion of an American statesman 
on the propriety of taking active measures to advance the prin- 
ciples of infidelity, he said, " Beware how you wake a sleeping 
lion : if men are so bad under the restraints of Christianity, 
what will they be without them ? " What a horrible scheme, 
to require such precautions ! There is no necessity for anything 
of the kind, with the religion of the Bible. Who can deny its 
pure and moral tendency ? Perhaps you have never read that 
noble and beautiful epitome of the system you affect to despise : 
"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, ivhatsoever things 
29* 



342 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, 
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; 
if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these 
things" Phil. 4 : 8. Surely, sir, you are not unacquainted 
with the tremendous doctrines which call for such a pure and 
elevated morality. But could we expect a lower standard than 
the above, if we are to look for any harmony between principles 
and practice ? Take away a single item from the above cata- 
logue of moral virtues, and a defection from Christian princi- 
ples glaring and inconsistent will immediately appear. What 
but the dread sanctions of the doctrines of the Bible could call 
forth, and sustain, such a lovely exhibition of pure morality in 
every-day life ? A course of conduct this, which must be 
approved of by men, and also by a holy God, who searcheth the 
heart. I shall not further contrast infidelity with Christianity. 
It would be a loss of time to compare night with day, or winter 
with summer, merely to show that there is a vast difference 
between them. 

There is an abundance of sophistry in what you have advanced 
against the resurrection and day of judgment. Perhaps you are 
not aware that, centuries since, the same ideas were recorded in 
a Jewish Talmud, of which the following is the substance: A 
crafty man endeavored to perplex a rabbi, thus : The day of judg- 
ment comes, and the soul and body appear before the great tri- 
bunal. The Supreme Judge is about to pronounce sentence 
upon both, for sins committed in time. But the soul blames the 
body for sins perpetrated during life, and the body the soul. 
Each argues thus : the soul proves it was an innocent party when 
united with the body, from the fact that, since it was freed by 
death, it has been flying like a bird through the air, without 
sinning as formerly. The body charges past sin upon the soul, 
on the ground that, since the bonds were broken which led them 
together, it had slept quietly in the earth, without doing good or 
evil, — senseless as a stone. " Therefore," said the sophist, " I 
conclude that both soul and body may free themselves from pun- 
ishment on that day." 

The rabbi, in order to show the fallacy of such reasoning, 



INFIDEL DEFENCES DEMOLISHED. 343 

resorted to a parable : A certain king had a garden of ripe 
fruit, and appointed two men to watch it. One of them was a 
blind man, and the other lame. Having a desire, not only to 
eat a little fruit, but to gather much and share it between them, 
they entered into a partnership in the business. So the lame 
man, getting on the shoulders of him who was blind, plucked the 
fruit, and both partook of it. After a time, the owner came, and 
inquired for his fruit. The watchmen were called to an account, 
and charges were brought against them. The blind man said 
he had no eyes, and therefore could not see the fruit; the lame 
man said he had no feet, and therefore could not reach it. The 
king, knowing the guilt of the parties, ordered the lame man to 
mount on the shoulders of the blind man, and judged and pun- 
ished them both at once. " Thus," said the rabbi, " God will 
put the soul into the body, and judge and punish them both 
together." 

Forget not, dear sir, that 'the proceedings of that day stand 
among those things which have been revealed. That the body 
shall arise from the grave and be reoccupied by the soul on that 
great day, and both punished together, is clearly settled in the 
holy Scriptures. He who can receive it, let him ; he that can- 
not must answer to the God of the Bible. 

You perceive how flimsy are your arguments, now, even when 
a poor mortal like myself touches them : 

" Frail as the gossamer, whose fibres span 

From shrub to shrub ; which lightest zephyrs fan 
Away, away ! " 

But if, on a future day, God shall acknowledge the divine 
inspiration of that book which you affect to despise, all your 
sophistical cobwebs must be swept away. Alone ? No ! but 
your soul must go down with them into that fire " prepared for 
the devil and his angels." Please read, at your leisure, Dan. 
12 : 2 ; John 5 : 28—29 ; Rev. 20 : 11—13. 

A very short reply will do for your concluding sentiments. 
The following epitaph, written by a witty man, for the tomb- 



344 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

stone of one of your brethren, I would recommend for yours, 
when your body is laid in the dust : 

" Here lies a dicer, long in doubt 
If death could kill his soul or not ; 
Here ends his doubtfulness, at last 
Convinced, but, oh, the die is cast ! " 



CHAPTER XVII. 

ANNIHILATION. 

Art thou in health, my friend? Bad health, or an improper 
course of life, must have impelled you, surely, to espouse, — I shall 
not say such principles, for they are not worthy of such a title, — 
but the "probabilities" of a blank so fearful, in your future his- 
tory. But you may be ready to ask, " What has bad health to 
do with my opinions?" I know not that I can give you a bet- 
ter answer than in the language of a character somewhat similar 
to yourself, but just emerging into a happier belief. In a letter 
to a friend, he says: "I will just speak of another reflection. 
The ingenious Dr. C. reckons all gloomy wrong-headedness, and 
spurious free-thinking, as so many symptoms of bodily disease; 
and, I think, says, * The human organs in some nervous dis- 
tempers may, perhaps, be rendered fit for the actuation of demons,' 
and advises religion as an excellent remedy. Nor is this un- 
likely to be my own case ; for a nervous disease, of some years' 
standing, rose to its height in , and I was attacked in pro- 
portion by irreligious opinions. The medicinal part of his advice, 
a vegetable diet, at last cured my dreadful bodily distemper. It 
is, then, natural to think the spiritual part of his advice equally 
good. And shall I neglect it, because I am now in health ? God 
forbid ! " 

" Annihilation! " But what is that? Do you properly under- 
stand the term, think you ? Have you a right conception of all 
its appalling import? Is it not to be reduced to nothing, — for- 
ever nothing? as if you had never been ? a deprivation, an utter 
extinction of being? a loss of existence throughout eternity? 
Eternity ! Unmeaning word ! you have, it seems, discarded it 
quite from your vocabulary. But do you find it quite so easy a 
thing to expel it from your understanding, or to blot it from your 



346 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

memory ? I will venture to assert, it lives there still, and bids 
defiance to all the exorcisms of infidelity to banish it thence; it 
abides there still, with a sense of all that it implies. 

I am not willing to allow that "Christian enthusiasts" are 
the only persons who " are constantly poring over eternity." 
There are few, perhaps, who think more about this important 
term than a certain class of infidels. The difference between 
them and those you call enthusiasts is, the former are necessi- 
tated to dwell upon the darkest and most terrifying aspect of the 
question. I think we may rather say : 

"Atheists are dark enthusiasts, indeed, 
Whose fire enkindles like the smoking weed ; 
Lightless and dull the clouded fancy burns, 
Wild hopes and fears still flashing out by turns. 
Averse to heaven, amid the horrid gleam, 
They trace annihilation's monstrous theme ; 
On gloomy depths of nothingness to pore, 
Till all be none, and being be no more." 

It is, certainly, a dread alternative for the mind to be in a 
"state of poise" between an eternity of misery, or annihilation. 
You have, it seems, renounced the former, while you retain the 
latter as the most tolerable of the two. Your predicament quite 
resembles that of one of your fraternity, some two or three hun- 
dred years ago, well expressed thus : 

" When death's dread form appears, she feareth not 
An utter quenching, or extinguishment ; 
She would be glad to meet with such a lot, 
That so she might all future ill prevent." 

Annihilation ! Death's last moment ushers in a blank which 
is to be everlasting! — "eternal!" for, although you profess to 
have excluded from your thoughts an eternity of existence, you 
do not seem shy of the term when applied to a state of non- 
existence. But it expresses your meaning, doubtless, better and 
more strongly than any other word in our language. I wonder, 
however, why you venture to use it so freely, as you hazard 
"being tilted over" by it unto the other side of the question. 
Depend upon it the word is contagious ; therefore be advised, 



ANNIHILATION. 347 

use it sparingly. Annihilation ! — Consider ! The sun shall rise 
and set ; the moon shall present her varied face to the earth ; 
nature shall change her dress through the seasons of countless 
years ; thunders shall roll through the heavens, and the light- 
nings flash ; science shall continue its march, achieving its won- 
ders, and triumphing gloriously over all the difficulties of materi- 
alism ; history shall continue its annals, while generation suc- 
ceeds to generation, as the leaves of the forest in the revolving 
year. Your own particular circle of friends and acquaintances 
shall have disappeared from among men ; the house in which 
you live must be occupied by others ; and the trade, if you have 
one, in which you are engaged, shall be " carried on" by strang- 
ers unknown and unborn. Cities, now in existence, shall have 
ceased to exist ; their very site be no longer known ; while others 
shall lift their shining pinnacles and lofty domes in the sunshine. 
The mightiest empires which now throw their ample shades over 
millions of subjects shall have passed away, — their names may 
be lost, or dropped, as apocryphal, from the pages of history ; 
and other empires, whose names are not yet recorded among the 
nations of the earth, shall be swaying their sceptres over un- 
numbered millions : But where shall you be ? I mean, by you, 
that thinking intelligent mind, which, through organs perishable 
as the grass of the field, is perusing this letter, and judging of 
its contents. Where, what shall you be ? Be ! according to 
your sentiments, you shall have no being, — extinguished as the 
" vital spark of heavenly name," swallowed up and lost in eter- 
nal oblivion. How can you dwell upon a prospect so bleak and 
comfortless, without a chilly horror creeping over your frame? 
"Is annihilation," inquires one, "so small a matter, that a rea- 
sonable man can look upon it with complacency ?" 

" That must be our cure, 
To be no more : sad cure ! for who would lose, 
Though full of pain, this intellectual being, 
Those thoughts that wander through eternity, 
To perish rather, swallowed up and lost 
In the wide womb of uncreated night, 
Devoid of sense and motion ? " 



348 REVIVAL iHISCELLANIES, 

Which horn of the following dilemma are you inclined to 
take ? "If your system be true, you have a bleak and comfort- 
less lot; but, if false, forever miserable will be your fate, 
because you are making no preparation for it." What reply 
could you make to the following inquiry and conclusion ? " Who 
among us could be cheerful while he entertained the thought of 
not being at all after death, which must be the atheist's lot, if 
his system be true ; or, of being forever miserable, which will bo 
his case, if his system should be false ? On a person of this 
cast, it should seem needless to inflict any other punishment 
than that of leaving him to the horrors of his gloomy imagina- 
tion, till he feel himself to want those joys and comforts of 
which he hath labored to deprive others." The Sheffield bard 
has, I think, well described the bleak and lonely feelings associ- 
ated, at a certain period of human life, with the opinions alluded 
to by the above writer. I shall give you the passage to which I 
refer ; requesting you only to observe how ingeniously he lets 
in, at the close, a flood of heavenly light upon the drooping and 
cheerless mind ; would to God it may irradiate yours also ! 

(( So I pass. 
The world grows darker, lonelier, and more silent, 
As I go down into the vale of years ; 
For the grave's shadows lengthen in advance, 
And the grave's loneliness appals my spirit, 
And the grave's silence sinks into my heart, 
Till I forget existence in the thought 
Of non-existence, buried for a while 
In the still sepulchre of my own mind, 
Itself imperishable : ah ! that word, 
Like the archangel's trumpet, wakes me up 
To deathless resurrection. Heaven and earth 
Shall pass away, but that which thinks within me 
Must think forever ; that which feels must feel 5 
I am, and I can never cease to be." 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE SOUL NOT MATERIAL. 

^ cannot now find time to enter "minutely " into all your specu- 
lations; speculations they are, and ever must remain, so long as 
you have not a " Thus saith the Lord " attached to them. But, I 
would ask, is not God an immortal being ? If you believe in 
the existence of angels, are they not immortal also ? They are 
thinking beings, but they are not material beings. Man thinks, 
and reasons. These are attributes of mind, not of matter. Why, 
then, deny eternity of duration to the human intellect? Do you 
not perceive that the same mode of argument which you have em- 
ployed against man might be wielded with equal force against the 
immortality of God and angels ? A writer of no mean talent, one 
who contended for the materiality of the soul, was so confounded 
by this very dilemma, that he was driven to the hard necessity 
of "an endeavor " to prove that no such beings as angels exist. 
But he had the good sense to perceive that his argument would 
be incomplete, unless he could prove to a demonstration that 
there is no God. This blasphemy he saw the propriety of 
avoiding. Was it that he feared the title of an atheist, or that 
of a fool ? His argument was left unfinished, and, therefore, 
was good for nothing, unless to prove his folly. 

"Lord, what a nothing is this little span, 
Which we call man ! 
When not himself, he 's mad ; when most himself, he 's worse." 

An ingenious waiter of the last century, I remember, has some 

clear and beautiful thoughts upon the nature of the human soul, 

as distinguished from matter. He shows that atoms, whether 

original or in the aggregate, — that is, the accumulation of atoms, 

30 



350 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

under any given form of organization, — cannot think ; that it is 
equally impossible for matter to derive thought from attenuation ; 
that is, that minute particles compounded, refined, and extended, 
even subtilized and etherealized, when thus modified, continue 
matter still, and must remain matter; — it cannot think. He 
shows, with equal clearness, that thought cannot be the result of 
any chemical proprieties inherent in matter; chemistry never 
having been able to discover, in any of its processes, that atoms 
can be made to think. In all experiments of this or any other 
kind, these particles of matter, in collection, great or small, are 
still absolutely incogitative ; nothing resembling thought having 
ever been discerned. He proves, also, that those two grand 
operations of the elements of matter, attraction and repulsion, 
are equally inefficient in producing the phenomenon of thought. 
Motion may operate upon matter ; one particle of matter may 
draw or repel another; but neither in the capacity of drawing or 
being drawn, repelling or being repelled, can we find anything 
that bears a single resemblance to thought. He argues, most 
forcibly, that thought cannot be the result of " motion, in the 
abstract ; " that matter in motion is as destitute of thought as 
matter at rest ; the same in the cannon-ball, flying at the rate 
of four hundred and twenty miles an hour, as when safely 
lodged in the chamber of the cannon. Neither can matter be 
rendered cogitative by adding thought to it. Thought, or con- 
sciousness, may be joined to, but cannot be inherent in matter. 
It may be appended to matter, but it is not, it cannot be, a prop- 
erty or attribute of matter. Thought or consciousness, when 
added to matter, cannot, by any method of reasoning, be shown 
to become a property of matter. They may be separated, and ' 
yet leave matter as perfect as before ; not having deprived matter 
of one of its essential properties. 

It is possible you may inquire, "What does the author to 
whom you refer mean by ' adding to and separating thought 
from matter ' ? " I answer, were he alive to reply for himself, 1 
think it likely he would turn your attention to Genesis 2 : 7, — 
"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground." 
Here is, 1st, matter in its separate particles, " dust of the 



THE SOUL NOT MATERIAL. 351 

ground," but without thought. 2. Matter in a state of organiza- 
tion: "He formed man of the dust of the ground." 3. Thus 
formed, or modelled into the shape of man, it remained thought- 
less, as it was motionless. 4. Here you behold matter in a 
perfect state of organization ; perfect as it could be in all its 
properties. 5. Thought was still wanting. 6. This required a 
second act of the almighty power of the Creator. " Thought and 
consciousness," though not essential to matter, as matter, were 
yet necessary to the perfection of the being he was about to call 
into existence. 7. " He breathed into his nostrils the breath of 
life," or, as the original has it, " the breath of lives," — natural 
life, spiritual life, eternal life, — and " man became a living soul." 
8. At death, the soul, which was superadded to matter, is separ- 
ated from it, without robbing it of any one single property that 
originally belonged to it; hence the origin and nature of an 
immortal and immaterial spirit are inferred. You inquire 
"What is an immaterial spirit? Why call it immaterial?" 
To this I reply: Because it is not material, not matter, but 
something widely distinct from it. " I can form no idea of an 
immaterial substance." 

Be it so ; but this is the principal reason, perhaps the only 
reason, why we employ a negative to express this peculiarity of 
an immortal soul. It is because we know of nothing in the 
whole visible world to which we can compare the soul, that we 
call it immaterial. It resembles not any known thing within 
the entire range of our acquaintance. We are, therefore, from 
the nature of the case, compelled to say. " It is an immaterial 
substance." The phase is, indeed, an imperfect one. It is an 
imperfection w T hich seems decreed to our present state, and must 
remain till we know even as also we are known, and mortality 
is swallowed up of life. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

MISERY OF BACKSLIDERS. 

I cannot think of your sad case, dear backslider, without 
recurring to the following mournful lines ; cadences, which, if 
I am not mistaken, will find an echoing response in the wild 
workings of your own sorrow-stricken heart: 

" When will pass away from this sad heart 
The cloud of grief, the tempest of remorse ? 
When will the winged hopes, that glanced and sang 
In joy's melodious atmosphere, return 
To welcome back the gladness of the soul? " 

I tremble when I realize how dreadfully the infinite God has 
fulfilled his own declaration in your unhappy soul : " Thine own 
wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove 
thee ; know, therefore, and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, 
that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is 
not in thee, saith the Lord God of Hosts." Jer. 2 : 19. You 
now see, when it is too late, the joy and peace you have lost. 
What an amount of real and solid happiness have you cast 
away ! Vilely cast away ! And for what ? Let your own 
heart answer. Is it a secret ? Not at all. The thing is known. 
But you startlingly inquire, "What ! does any human being know 
the matter, but yourself? " Yes ; it is fearfully known and spread 
abroad in your own breast. Are you not aware that you carry 
within your own bosom many witnesses, witnesses which can- 
not let a secret sleep ? They will ring it through the conscience; 
and the crowded halls of the mind will reecho with the whole 
affair. You have probably read the singular declaration of 

" My conscience hath a thousand several tongues, 
And every tongue brings in a several tale, 
And every tale condemns me as a villain." 



MISERY OF BACKSLIDERS. 353 

" There is no such thing," says an elegant writer, " as perfect 
secrecy, to encourage a rational mind to the perpetration of any 
base action; for a man must first extinguish and put out the great 
light within hirrr> his conscience ; he must get away from himself 
and shake off the thousand witnesses which he always carries 
about him, before he can be alone.'''' 

But a greater than either has said, " Knowing that he that is 
such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself ; " 
Titus 3 : 11 ; et peccat, existens, spoiite condemnatus. The con- 
demnation he feels is spontaneous ; it requires no effort, no 
pointed rebukes nor exhortations, in order to produce a conscious- 
ness of guilt. It is there already. In the moment of sinning, 
the seed of remorse was sown, thickly sown over the heart. 
The gain of guilty pleasure was quickly followed by a percep- 
tion of fearful loss. The fruits of the Spirit, " love, joy, peace, 
lo?ig-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith" had no sooner been 
swept away from the heart, than they were succeeded by the 
bitter and abundant fruits of sin. A sense of condemnation 
sprang up and overspread the soul, as spontaneously as the brier 
and the thorn spring up in the uncultivated field, which ask not 
the laborious efforts of the husbandman to produce them. How 
applicable to you are the lines of the old poet, 

"What bitter pills, 
Composed of real ill?, 
Men swallow down to purchase one false good ! " 

An old writer once compared sinful pleasures to bees; which, 
though they may have a drop of honey in their mouth, the tail 
of each is armed with a sting. The pleasures of sin are not 
unlike the locusts described in Revelation 9 : " Crowns like 
gold on their heads," they promised much, but " they had tails 
like unto scorpions." This you have found out by sad experi- 
ence. I am not sure but that the above poet had an eye to the 
passage quoted, when he exclaimed, 

" Alas! thy gains 
Are only present pains, 
To gather scorpions for a future wound ; 
'T is thus the world her votaries beguiles 
With fair appearances, and kills with smiles ! " 

30* 



354 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

Your heart, my friend, was once "an Eden of love," full of 
holy hope and humble joy. With what bitterness have you 
realized how sudden and how successful a temptation may prove ! 
Ah ! how lamentable, that you should have lost, in one single 
hour, the fruit of all the toil and faithfulness of several years! 
You may well say, 

" I leaped desperate from my guardian rock, 
And headlong plunged in sin's abyss ! " 

You have now formed a woful acquaintance with that of 
which it was your duty, as well as your interest, to remain in 
blissful ignorance. You have used your liberty, and gratified 
your curiosity. Passion has been satiated. But conscience has 
awoke upon you, and how terrible are its rebukes ! It was the 
saying of an individual, that "the agonies inflicted by the wolf 
which fed on the life-stream of the Spartan, the poison injected 
by the tooth of the viper, or the three-fanged sting of the scor- 
pion, are as nothing when contrasted with the torments of an 
accusing conscience." Who can endure the tremendous upbraid- 
ings of this faculty, when the Spirit of the living God sheds the 
fearful light of the divine holiness upon the guilty soul ? Where 
is the man who has sufficient fortitude to sustain, unflinchingly, 
such a visitation ? Inspiration declares, " The spirit of a man 
will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit ivho can bear?" 
What a comment on these remarks, as well as upon the above 
text, are those dying acknowledgments of a certain sinner, a few 
hours before he entered eternity ! — 

" As for a Deity, nothing less than an Almighty could inflict 
what I feel. Didst thou," said he to a friend by his bed-side, 
"Didst thou feel half the mountain that is upon me, thou wouldst 
struggle with the martyr for his stake, and bless Heaven for the 
flames ! That is not an everlasting flame ; that is not an un- 
quenchable fire. This body is all weakness and pain; but my 
soul, as if stung up by torment to greater strength and spirit, is 
full powerful to reason, full mighty to suffer; and that which 
now triumphs within the jaws of mortality is doubtless im- 
mortal ! " 

A few years ago, I was deeply impressed with the sentiment 



MISERY OF BACKSLIDERS. 355 

of an American author upon this subject : " There is no manli- 
ness or fortitude can bear up under the horrors of guilt. The 
thing is done ; yet it rises in all its vivid coloring to the soul 
that has incurred it, overwhelming it with remorse and despair. 
The reproaches of conscience, once thoroughly aroused, can never 
be silenced nor borne. They come, bringing with them the frown 
of God. They bring with them recollections of the past, which 
pierce the soul with anguish ; and terrific forebodings of the 
future, which overwhelm it with horror. No human spirit can 
sustain its energies under such a burden, when it really comes." 

I recollect meeting with the following sentiments when perus- 
ing a French writer : " The pains of the mind are as lively and 
as sensible as those of the body. It has smitten the knees of a 
Belshazzar. It has rendered the voluptuous insensible of pleas- 
ure ; and has put many a wretch upon the rack. It has forced 
some, who, upon scaffolds and w T heels, have denied their crimes, 
after a release to confess them. It has compelled them to find 
out a judge, to give evidence against themselves, and to implore 
the mercy of a violent death, more tolerable than the agonies of 
their guilty souls." 

But, should you not be thankful to God, that such feelings 
have not overtaken you upon your death-bed ? that, when you 
fell from God, you were not abandoned to hopeless remorse and 
despair, or to total insensibility ? This has been the case with 
not a few. You will probably reply, " In my case, such stupe- 
faction would have been impossible. I have enjoyed too much 
communion with God, too much real and substantial happiness 
in the relation I sustained to him, ever to have that relation 
changed or destroyed, without being alarmed into horror by such 
an occurrence." 

I must conclude by a word of encouragement. You must not 
rush into sin to avoid conviction, nor endeavor to shake it ofT. 
This is a common temptation. It has ruined thousands. You 
cannot get away from yourself. You will be your own tormentor, 
till you turn to the Gospel hope. Dare to lookup. "Father, 
I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more 
worthy to be called thy son." It is enough. Thy Father sees 



356 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

thy heart. He knows ail thy feelings. He waits to be gra- 
cious. He is ready to pardon. Consider the case of the prod- 
igal son : " And he arose and came to his father; but when he 
was yet a great way off," just as you feel yourself now, " his 
father saw him ;" a father's eye can see a great distance, espec- 
ially when an erring, broken-hearted, penitent child is returning, 
one for whom he has long felt the yearnings of parental affec- 
tion; " and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck, and 
kissed him." Here is a touching scene, one of unutterable ten- 
derness. And he does not give the prodigal time to make any 
confession ; he is embraced. Ah, his slowly returning steps, 
his starved countenance, ragged limbs, and downcast looks, pro- 
claimed the secret workings of the soul to the eye of the advanc- 
ing father. All the father was in his eyes, as he neared the 
returning wanderer. And he exclaimed, " This is my son ;" 
and, in a moment, the penitent is overwhelmed with tokens 
of the tenderest affection. The confession at last is begun : 
" Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and 
am no more worthy to be called thy son." Here he is stopped 
by the command of the father to the servants, to " bring forth 
the best robe and put it on him." See Luke 15 : 22 — 24. 

Ah! you say, " If I thought God, my greatly offended God, 
but once affectionate Father, would thus receive my guilty soul, 
I would not remain at a distance from him ; but he never can 
have mercy upon such a wretch as I am." You are mistaken, 
my dear friend. He is able to save you unto the uttermost; 
and if you come unto him in the name of Jesus, trusting in his 
atoning blood, you shall find him loilling also to heal your back- 
slidings, and to restore unto you the joy of his salvation. 

I do not wonder that a recollection of the inward heaven you 
once enjoyed greatly heightens the bitterness of your distress; 
nor am I surprised that you should painfully feel 

" One single moment of deliberate thought, 
And cloudless reason, would have spared me 
All this guilt — this agony." 

The following comment of an old divine on Ezekiel 18: 24, 
though written some centuries ago, is as applicable to you as if 



MISERY OF BACKSLIDERS. 357 

penned yesterday, and with direct reference to yourself : " Would 
it not vex a scrivener, after he had spent many days and much 
pains upon a large patent or lease, to make such a blot at the 
last word that he should be forced to write it all again ? Yet 
so it is, that as one foul blot or dash with a pen defaceth a 
whole writing, so one foul sin dasheth and obliterateth the 
fairest copy of a virtuous life; it razeth out all the golden char- 
acters of divine graces imprinted on our souls. All our fastings 
and prayers, all our sighing and mourning for our sins, all our 
exercises of piety, all our deeds of charity, all our sufferings for 
righteousness, all the good thoughts we have ever conceived, 
all the good words we have ever uttered, all the good works we 
have ever performed, — in a word, all our righteousness is lost 
at the very instant when we resolve to turn from it. As one 
drop of ink coloreth a whole glass of clear water, so one sinful 
and shameful action staineth all our former life ; yet this is not 
the worst, for it followeth, ' In his trespass that he hath tres- 
passed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he 
die.'" 

I have seen the remark somewhere, in the course of my read- 
ing, that it has been supposed, that between the time of Satan's 
triumph over our first parents, and the coming of God to walk 
in the garden, one night intervened. This is but a conjecture ; 
yet it is not unlikely that God did let them feel themselves a 
little. It appears they had time to contrive aprons of fig-leaves 
for themselves : " And they sewed fig-leaves together, and made 
themselves aprons." If the above supposition be correct, oh ! 
what a dreadful night they must have spent ! What horror of 
soul ! What fearful forebodings ! Nor is it likely they had the 
heavenly visitants, as in the happy nights of their innocence, so 
beautifully expressed by Milton : 

" How often, from the steep 
Of echoing hill or thicket, have we heard 
Celestial voices to the midnight air, 
Sole, or responsive each to other's note, 
Singing their great Creator ! oft in bands 
While they keep watch, or nightly rounding walk, 



358 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

With heavenly touch of instrumental sounds 
In full harmonic number joined, their songs 
Divide the night, and lift our thoughts to heaven." 

All these had, perhaps, fled to heaven as messengers to the 
celestial hosts of the dread intelligence of Adam's fall. 

And the elements, — were they immediately changed ? Milton 
thought so, when he tells us that no sooner had Eve plucked 
and eaten the forbidden fruit than 

" Earth felt the wound, and nature from her seat, 
Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe, 
That all was lost." 

If the heavens, on that dreadful night, were muffled with 
clouds, — if the forked lightning and the rattling thunder blazed 
and vollied along the threatening skies, — if the winds were 
raging, and the dark tempest was let loose upon the once peace- 
ful Eden, — what horror must have seized the guilty pair ! The 
expositor within their own breasts would, no doubt, give a faith- 
ful exposition of the meaning of that angry storm. Perhaps the 
presence of such warring elements was little needed. The 
fearful conviction of guilt was present. Conscience, doubtless, 
had raised a storm within. And the powerful voice of that 
vicegerent of the Almighty was far more dreadful to the soul 
than the loudest discharges of heaven's artillery. If there were 
such a space of time between their fall and the merciful visita- 
tion of their Creator, may it not have been necessary, in order 
that they should taste the unmixed bitterness of sin, and to 
prepare them, with adoring gratitude, to hear the gladdening 
news of the promised atonement ? 

Whether we are right in all our conjectures respecting our 
first parents, is not, I apprehend, material. But it gives me an 
opportunity of saying, that it seems to me you have passed 
through scenes of mental anguish similar, in many respects; 
and that now, through the blessed Spirit, you are prepared to 
receive the boon of salvation. You have no disposition to fly 
from the presence of God. You seem rather to say, with poor 
Job, who was sorely afflicted both in body and mind, — " O that 



MISERY OF BACKSLIDERS. 359 

I knew where I might find him ! that I might come even to his 
seat! I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth 
with arguments. Behold, I go forward, but he is not there ; 
and backward, but I cannot perceive him : on the left hand, 
where he doth work, but I cannot behold him : he hideth him- 
self on the right hand, that I cannot see him." Neither do you 
attempt to palliate or excuse your sin, nor blame any one but 
yourself; the justice of your condemnation you readily confess, 
and can never forgive your apostasy from God. These are 
signs of real repentance. They cannot be mistaken. And I 
am as certain as that I have an existence, if you persevere, God 
will be found of you, to the joy of your heart. He will " heal 
your backslidings, and love you freely." Has he not com- 
manded you to return, saying, "Return, O backsliding Israel, 
saith the Lord ! " And what is his positive promise, in the same 
chapter ? Hear it for your comfort : " And I will not cause 
mine anger to fall upon you; for I am merciful, saith the Lord, 
and I will not keep mine anger forever." Hear also the follow- 
ing declaration from the Lord thy God. O infinite condescen- 
sion ! boundless love ! " Turn, O backsliding children, saith the 
Lord, for I am. married unto you" Read the chapter upon your 
knees from which I have made these extracts, — Jeremiah 3. 

Fear not, " The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to 
his temple." In the cool of the day, the voice of the Lord thy 
God will be heard in the garden of his promises, proclaiming 
mercy to your troubled soul. He is near who justifieth, who 
forgiveth iniquity, transgression and sin. Lo ! he comes not to 
condemn, but to give life everlasting. " If any man sin, we 
have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous : 
and he is the propitiation for our sins ; and not for ours only, 
but also for the sins of the whole world." 

" O believe the record true, 

God to you his Son hath given." 

Be -patient, restless, resigned, yet vehement in your supplica- 
tions for mercy. " From the days of John the Baptist until 
now, the kingdom of heaven sunereth violence, and the violent 



360 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

take it by force." Repeat the following verses upon your knees, 
— perhaps you can sing them, — and expect the great salvation 
every moment by faith; that is, trust in the merits of the 
atoning blood of Jesus Christ : — 

" My suffering, slain, and risen Lord, 
In sore distress I turn to thee ; 
I claim acceptance in thy word, 
Jesus, my Saviour, ransom me. 

" Prostrate before thy mercy seat, 
I dare not, if I would, despair ; 
None ever perished at thy feet, 
And I will lie forever there." 

Your experience brings to my remembrance a sentiment 
uttered by a minister of Jesus, now with God. " When a soul 
is convinced of sin, Jesus throws into it a portion of that fire, if 
I may so speak, which was kindled in his own breast when he 
died on Calvary." 

You ask, — and there is no doubt the inquiry agonizes you, — 
" Why is it that I do not obtain the blessing for which I am 
crying to God day and night ? ' I water my couch with my 
tears ; they are my meat day and night.' I believe Christ died 
for me. I endeavor to trust in the merits of the atonement with 
all my heart ; but the billows cease not to roll over me. The 
tempest agitates my soul, and there is no deliverance, no salva- 
tion ; I am lost, lost forever ! " Not so, not so ; hope thou in 
God, for thou shalt yet praise him. Though deep calleth unto 
deep at the noise of his water-spouts, — though all his waves 
and his billows go over thee, — the Lord will yet command his 
loving-kindness in the day-time, and in the night his song shall 
be with thee, and thy prayer to the God of thy life. 

But, " Why is it that I do not obtain the blessing for which I 
am crying to God day and night ? " The reasons may be vari- 
ous. To impute the delay of the blessing to any arbitrary 
determination or secret purpose of God is dangerous, and con- 
trary to the general tenor of Scripture. Whenever an individual 
humbly repents, and unfeignedly believes the Gospel, he is made, 



MISERY OF BACKSLIDERS. 361 

that moment, the partaker of God's converting grace. Pardon 
is then and there imparted ; and the love of God is shed abroad 
in the heart, by the Holy Ghost given unto him. 

I could imagine circumstances which might seem to render 
necessary a procrastination of salvation on the part of God ; but 
I always feel afraid to utter a single sentiment that would seem 
to contradict the universal applicability of that beautiful and 
conclusive declaration of God himself, " Behold, now is the 
accepted time : behold, now is the day of salvation." But, with 
reverential awe, I would suggest it as a possible thing that he 
may see something in your case to justify the keeping of you 
for a season in your present state. The cup of penitential grief 
has been put into your hands, filled with the wormwood and the 
gall ; be willing to drink it to the dregs ; it must have a tend- 
ency, when you are restored, to secure your future faithfulness. 

Keflect upon the past ; may you not learn an important lesson 
from the retrospect ? Can you make any discovery of what led 
you into this trouble ? Have you failed to detect a proneness in 
you to that very sin which has led to your apostasy ? Have 
there not been many instances in which you have felt the 
strongest impulses toward it, when nothing but the want of 
opportunity, or the controlling grace of God, Could have restrained 
you from it ? This was the sin of your nature, and from which 
the greatest danger is still to be apprehended. The apostle calls 
it "the sin which doth so easily beset us;" — that to which 
we are most inclined, and which has the greatest influence over 
us. Now, it would seem, that God intends to make you feel 
the plague of this prevailing evil of your sinful nature, and taste 
the bitter consequences of its indulgence, that you may care- 
fully avoid, in future, the occasion of your present wretchedness. 
Temptations may yet assail you, after your adoption into the 
family of God ; from falling into which, perhaps, nothing would 
contribute so effectually to save you as a terrifying remem- 
brance of what you are now suffering. God may be teaching 
you the evil nature of sin, by a lesson awfully severe. I am 
fully persuaded salvation will come, — it is very near. 
31 



362 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

,c Haste, my Lord, no more delay ; 
Come, my Saviour, come away." 

See ! the arms of your compassionate Saviour are outstretched 
to receive you. Fly, oh, fly into those arms of everlasting love ! 
He will not, he cannot, spurn you away. Can you doubt the 
sincerity of his invitation, " Come unto me, all ye that labor and 
are heavy laden " ? Dare you suspect the veracity of his sacred 
promise, — " And I will give you rest :" " Him that cometh to me 
I will in no wise cast out " ? It is enough, my Lord ! He does 
believe ! He cannot doubt ! He comes to thee as a helpless, guilty 
sinner ! O, let him see thy face and live ! 

Your distressing case reminds me of an affecting incident 
connected with the explosion of the American steamer Pulaski, 
a few years ago. The vessel was on her voyage from Savannah 
to the city of New York. In a dangerous sea, and in the dead 
hour of the night, the boiler burst, and about one hundred souls 
were launched into eternity. 

The vessel was torn to pieces ; and, upon a few fragments of 
the wreck, with the mast lying across it, a number of human 
beings floated out to sea. They continued to drift further and 
further from land, till nothing but sky and water met their view. 
During four days the scorching sun poured his rays upon their 
almost naked bodies, till they were blistered. They had no food 
to satisfy the cravings of hunger ; their tongues were parched 
with thirst ; and to drink the salt water they knew would only 
increase the dreadful feeling. 

A hint was given by one of the sufferers, that, in order to save 
themselves from death, they should cast lots who should die for 
the sustenance of the rest ; but the idea of eating the flesh and 
drinking the blood of a fellow-being was so dreadfully repulsive, 
it was i ejected with horror. As they were gazing intensely into 
the far-off horizon, they were cheered with what at first appeared 
a dark spot, but which soon brightened into a sail. They raised 
their little flag of distress, but it was unnoticed, and the vessel 
disappeared. After some time, another hove in view, but the 
signal was not seen, and she vanished away. In like manner 
two others appeared, but, to their anguish, they also passed out 



MISERY OF BACKSLIDERS. 363 

of sight. "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick," says the 
inspired writer; — so they felt. 

After several hours had elapsed, another sail appeared; it 
seemed as if it was pasted on the sky. Soon its shape altered. 
The outlines of a vessel could now be traced; and, to their 
trembling joy, seemed to be nearing them. Ah ! the captain of 
that ship little thought how many eyes were fixed with a gaze 
of agony upon the white sails of his stately vessel. They 
hoisted their signal of distress once more, and uttered their 
feeble cries. But, alas ! she also appeared to be shaping her 
course in another direction. One poor fellow, who had been 
dreadfully scalded, looked himself into despair, cried out, " She 
is gone ! " and laid him down to die. 

The time of extremity was God's opportunity : one eye from 
that vessel caught the signal ; the word was passed to the deck, 
and resounded through the ship, " A wreck ! — a wreck ! " In a 
few moments she began to bear down towards them. One of 
the sufferers, perceiving the change in her course, uttered the 
cry, " She sees us ! she is coming towards us ! " Nearing them 
rapidly, a short time only elapsed, which they employed in 
thanksgiving to God, when the vessel loomed up a short distance 
from them, and the clangor of the captain's trumpet rang over 
the waves, "Be of good cheer; I will save you!" I need 
scarcely tell you they were soon on board, filled with adoring 
gratitude to God, and thanksgivings to their deliverer. 

I remarked, in the commencement of this letter, that your state 
of soul reminded me of the perilous condition of these shipwrecked 
passengers. You were sailing onward to heaven with a happy 
soul, and the breezes of grace were propitious. But an explosion 
took place, to the astonishment of heaven ; and you made " ship- 
wreck of faith, and of a good conscience." Thank God, you have 
not gone down to hell, like many other backsliders. You have 
floated out upon the mere fragments of your hopes, into the 
ocean of despair. Of you it may be well said, 

"His passage lies across the brink 
Of many a threatening wave ! 
And hell expects to see him sink, 
But Jesus lives to save ! " 



364 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

Yes, " Jesus lives to save ; " and it is written, " He is able to 
save unto the uttermost." 

The promises have been obscured from the eye of your faith 
by strong temptation. Again and again you have found your- 
self unable to reach them ; and, like the vessels which hovered 
for a little before the vision of those distressed persons, and then 
vanished, so have the promises to your apprehension. But the 
God of the promises is at hand. Fear not, — your signals of dis- 
tress are seen from heaven. There is an end, and your expecta- 
tion shall not be cut off. The captain of your salvation has left 
the skies for your help. He is this hour drawing nearer to your 
soul. You may say, for your own encouragement, " He sees 
me ! He sees me ! He is coming towards me ! " He is ; see ! 

" Lo ! on the wings of love he flies, 
And brings salvation nigh !" 

"Only believe, and thou shalt see the salvation of God." 
" All things are possible to him that believeth." Do "you not 
already hear the voice of your great deliverer, " Be of good 
cheer, — I will save you ! " Soon, very soon, you shall be rescued 
from your distressed situation ; and, with adoring gratitude, fall 
at the feet of your gracious Saviour, and confess him " mighty 
to save." 



CHAPTER XX. 

CHRIST A BACKSLIDER'S SAVIOUR. 

Unbelief is ever ingenious in the invention of instruments 
wherewith to torture the soul. You say, "It was suggested to 
me the other day, and it stung my soul to desperation, We find 
in Scripture many who were desperately sick, cured by our 
Saviour ; but where do we read in all the Gospel of any man's 
eyes twice enlightened ? of any deaf ears twice opened ? of 
any tied tongues twice loosened ? of any possessed with devils 
twice dispossessed ? No doubt Christ could have repeated these 
miracles ; but where do we read that he ever did so ? " 

This may be correct enough, and it is not improper, perhaps, 
to make it an alarming argument against returning to sin; but 
to infer that, because we do not find a single instance recorded 
of Christ re-healing any who had relapsed into affliction, there- 
fore there is no hope for the backslider, is a mere assump- 
tion. If none had a second miracle performed upon their person, 
it was probably because none had fallen again under the power 
of disease, during the remaining period of our Lord's ministry ; 
or, that circumstances may have precluded their second applica- 
tion ; but it remains to be proved that Christ would not have 
been gracious a second time to a wretched invalid. To reason 
thus, is to set up a defective supposition in contradiction to the 
plainest declarations and promises of Scripture, Jeremiah 3 : 12 
— 14 ; Hosea 14 : 4. It is, also, against matter of fact, and the 
history of the church, from the day backslidden Peter was 
restored to the favor of his Lord, down to our own times, in 
which instances to the contrary are most numerous. If the 
above sentiment has left a remaining tinge upon your mind, 
may the following considerations entirely erase it: First. If the 
31* 



366 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

sick are healed in answer to prayer, or by the blessing of God 
upon medicine, it is Christ still exerting his healing power ; but 
multitudes have been thus raised up, more than twice or thrice, 
in each individual case. Second. The Lord Jesus has lately 
restored many wretched backsliders in this city. 

You go on to say, " My sin is ever before my mind, and the 
constant recognition of it distracts and terrifies my soul." This 
proves that the mind has a looking faculty, as well as the body. 
When the eye looks at black or red, the mind is conscious of 
corresponding sensations. It is the same with the eye of the 
mind ; emotions are produced in the soul in accordance with the 
object that fixes its regard, whether it be the black and heinous 
nature of sin committed, or the crimson blood of Jesus Christ, 
which was the atonement for it. Now, so sure as you have 
power to command your bodily eyes, you have equal power to 
control the looking faculty of your soul. The Psalmist said, 
" My sin is ever before me ; " but he also added, " I have set the 
Lord always before me ; " and you can do the same. O, think 
of " Christ and him crucified ! " 

My heart was made better, several years ago, when reading a 
most affecting account of an aged Christian. It is with some 
hesitation I insert it in this letter, lest you would consider it 
foreign in the great end I had in writing to you. But hoping 
that it may serve to relieve and cheer your mind for a few 
moments by turning it off itself, if I may use the expression, I 
will relate it : 

An aged American Christian had entered upon those few last 
hours in human existence which God has set apart for the work 
of dying. A long life of usefulness had drawn the affections of 
his country around him. Nearly one hundred years had he 
sojourned upon the earth ; but his days were numbered. The 
lady who related the circumstance tells us that she stood by his 
bed-side, when a message of love was conveyed to his ear from 
a friend, a fellow-statesman, — one to whom he was united by the 
strongest bonds of friendship, in years long gone by. But the 
aged man had totally forgotten the friend of his early years. 
These links of friendship, once so delicately interwoven with his 



CHRIST 



367 



very being, had all been broken. She endeavored to restore his 
recollection ; but, alas ! a great gulf was between his mind and 
the remembrance of the past. The name and the image of his 
friend had fled from his memory, and could not be recalled. 

A vase of massy silver was brought before him, on which his 
country had caused to be sculptured the record of his services 
and her gratitude. He gazed vacantly upon it, but no chord of 
association vibrated. The love of honorable distinction, so long 
burning like a perpetual incense-flame on the altar of a great 
mind, had forsaken its temple. Her eyes filled as she gazed at 
the mournful wreck of mental power; feeling, doubtless, that no 
darkness is so great as that which overshadows and extinguishes 
the glorious light of mind. An individual at that moment hap- 
pened to mention the name of God, " the God of all grace ; " 
and his lips, till now so still and motionless, began to tremble; 
his cold blue eye sparkled through the frost of death ; his thin, 
bloodless hand clasped hers ; and, with a startling energy, he 
repeated the following lines : 

" When by the whelming tempest borne 
High o'er the broken wave, 
I knew thou wert not slow to hear, 
Nor impotent to save." 

And as she passed down the avenue from the patriarchal man- 
sion, she said, the voice of this aged saint of God, lifted up in 
prayer, fell upon her ear ; and she learned the further lesson, 
that the spirit of prayer may survive when intellectual endow- 
ments, and the consciousness of high renown, have been alike 
totally effaced from the tablet of the memory. 

I wish, my dear friend, if the thing were possible, you could 
in some way be separated from that remembrance of the past 
which seems not only to terrify you, but to drive you away from 
Jesus. I could wish, vain as the desire may be, that the links 
which connect you with those painful transgressions were broken 
off, in some sort, as in the case of this aged Christian ; at least, 
that a moment's respite might be afforded you, to turn the dis- 
tracted eye of your soul to the " Lamb of God, which taheth away 
the sin of the world." I would ask for yon what poor Job so 



368 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

mournfully desired for himself, " How long wilt thou not depart 
from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle ? " So 
that, forgetting all past associations, all your past sins, your 
present unworthiness, — losing yourself, so to speak, in the con- 
templation of the glories of redemption, so completely absorbed 
in the adoration of that name "which is above every name" — 
Jesus, — as to extinguish every other remembrance. And if 
you wish to repeat a few lines, like the servant of God referred 
to above, here they are for you : 

" Before the throne my Saviour stands, 
My Friend and Advocate appears ; 
My name is graven on his hands, 

And him the Father always hears ; 
While low at Jesus' cross I bow, 
He hears the blood of sprinkling now." 

A certain poet might well say of the name of Jesus, that it 
was 

" The talisman and spell 
Of the Gospel's earlier hour." 

It cleansed the lepers, healed the lame, unsealed the deafest 
ear, unchained the speechless tongue, tore away from the heart 
sorrow's darkest veil. It had only to be uttered, and a flood of 
cloudless light irradiated the hitherto darkened eye-balls. At its 
sound, the fever fled away ; but mentioned, and the Holy Ghost 
descended, and thousands were converted to God. Devils obeyed 
the authority of its mandate, and came out of the possessed, and 
fled in terror to their native hell. " Handkerchiefs or aprons," 
brought from the person of the apostle, when applied to the sick 
or the possessed, calling over them the name of Jesus, the dis- 
eases departed, and the evil spirits went out. It was but uttered, 
and the ankle-bones of cripples received strength ; proclaiming, 
by walking, leaping, and praising God, how powerful the charm 
of that wondrous name. 

The miraculous power attending its utterance extorted the 
humbling inquiry, from the tribunal of the persecutors, "By what 
power, or by what name, have ye done this ? " The miracle was 
wrought; this they could not deny; but the secret power, spell, 



CHRIST A BACKSLIDER'S SAVIOUR. 369 

or charm, by which the thing was done, excited their most 
intense inquiry. Triumphant Peter, full of the Holy Ghost, 
standing up sublimely among his wondering foes, his eye lighted 
up with holy transport, announced the secret in a tone of flame, 
" By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, 
whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand 
here before you whole." Yes, the name of Jesus was associated 
with every splendid achievement in the early days of the Gospel 
triumph. " The pure believing multitude" were drawn together 
by the music of that name. In every deliverance from bloody 
persecution, and after every conquest which the Gospel achieved 
in the conversion of sinners, their select meetings resounded with 
the confident exclamations, " Signs and wonders may be done by 
the name of thy holy child, Jesus." 

Dear sir, there is yet an omnipotence in that precious name. 
It is, to the present day, " The true Christian talisman." It has 
lost nothing of its ancient power. I have seen thousands con- 
verted by it ; of each of whom we could say, to astonished ob- 
servers, what St. Peter said to the amazed multitudes, when 
they saw the cripple, who had long sat at the gate called Beau- 
tiful begging, now leaping and praising God : " And his name, 
through faith in his name, hath made this man strong, whom ye 
see and know; yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this 
perfect soundness in the presence of you all." 

An old divine has somewhere said, " There is majesty implied 
in the name God. There is independent being in Jehovah. 
There is power in Lord. There is unction in Christ. There 
is affinity in Immanuel ; intercession in Mediator ; and help in 
Advocate ; but there is salvation in no other name under heaven, 
but the name of JESUS." Acts 4 : 12. 

A few months before I left America, I had the privilege of 
witnessing a very extensive revival of religion, in a certain place. 
One night I was peculiarly interested in the case of an individ- 
ual who was at the altar, with many others, for the instruction 
and prayers of the servants of God. Her cries and tears were 
very affecting, and really alarming. When spoken to, she said 
that during twenty years she had been under concern for her 



370 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

soul, but had never yet been converted to God ; adding, that she 
was now determined, if mercy were to be found, not to rest till 
she obtained it. The meeting closed, and she left the house in 
great distress of mind. No sooner had she arrived at home 
than she fell down upon her knees, weeping in agony, and plead- 
ing for salvation, as if she would not be denied. A dear brother, 
who was happy in the love of God, went to her at the moment 
when she was saying, " Lord, here is my heart, I give it to thee 
this night. O, have mercy upon me, a sinner!" She repeated 
the words over and over again, with the deepest emotion. The 
brother saw there was a deficiency, both in her faith and prayer, 
and immediately supplied the defect, — bringing Christ crucified 
before her mind, — and insisted that Jesus should be in her sup- 
plication. " Say, for Jesus' sake," urged the brother. This, 
for some time, she positively refused to do. " Say, for Jesus' 
sake," he again reiterated ; but, driven on by a sense of her sins, 
she appeared firm in the determination to avoid that name. 
"Say, for the sake of Jesus," he again urged, "and God will 
bless you." At last, almost suffocated with sorrow and distress, 
she feebly said, " Have mercy upon me, for the sake of Jesus." 
" That is right," said the brother ; " repeat it again." " Have 
mercy ! " &c. " Pray on," said he, " for Jesus' sake." She did 
so, and, in a few minutes, unbelief fled away; faith triumphed ; 
the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, filled her 
happy soul, and she rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of 
glory. 

But you inquire, " Have you ever known a case so desperate 
as mine which resulted in salvation ? " Yes, many. Vast num- 
bers of those I have seen brought to God were pressed with their 
sins, like a cart beneath its sheaves, until they despaired of 
mercy for a time ; and the Lord Jesus, by faith in his mighty 
name, saved them. 

Come, then, my unhappy friend, come to Jesus. Say in your 
heart, and suit the action of your soul to the words, 

" From sin and fear, from grief and shame, 
I hide me, Jesus, in thy name." 



CHRIST A BACKSLIDER'S SAVIOUR. 371 

Forget all. Leave all you have and are behind ; think of 
Jesus, — of his atoning blood ; — think of nothing else ; dwell 
upon his name ; repeat it with energy ; do so again and again, 
until your soul draws virtue out of him. " Looking unto Jesus," 
says the apostle. When you thus think of him, and for this 
purpose, you are then looking unto him. When the serpent- 
bitten Israelite looked at the brazen serpent erected by Moses, 
he was healed immediately ; so shall you, if you thus look to 
Jesus. Soon he will kindle a flame in your heart that all hell 
may not extinguish. When this is done, you may think of 
your sins, and be humble ; but the retrospect shall not make you 
unhappy. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

PAST SINS OF BACKSLIDERS. 

Dryden's sentiment, in the following lines, if applied to 
unpardoned sin, or when seized upon by a mind that is flying 
from the Saviour, as it is endeavoring to escape from remorse, 
is not only bad theology, but highly dangerous to the soul : — 

"Tis done, and since 'tis done, 'tis past recall ; 
And since 'tis past recall, must be forgotten." 

No; we must not forget, until we know that God has ceased to 
remember our sins. We may forget, but Eternal Justice cannot. 
The law of God shall ever be seizing the soul by the throat 
which has incurred guilt, saying, " Pay me what thou owest." 
Nor is it likely that oblivion's antidote shall long be effectual in 
banishing from the memory this debt of guilt, when the dun- 
ning importunity of this eternal creditor, served as it is upon 
the mind by conscience, compelling the soul so often to say, 
" Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all." The mind, 
in such a case, must be lapsing evermore into a retrospection, 
which is often as great an enemy to peace as it is to forgetful- 
ness. 

An eminent writer inquires, " Can they imagine that God 
has therefore forgot their sins, because they are not willing to 
remember them ? Or, will they measure his pardon by their 
own oblivion ? " If they do, it is a most dangerous mistake. 
Our oblivion may not be God's pardon, nor our forgetfulness (if 
the thing were possible under some circumstances) the oblivion 
of our sins from the remembrance of the Almighty. True, God 
has said, by the prophet Isaiah, " I, even I, am he that blotteth 
out thy transgressions, for mine own sake, and will not remern- 



PAST SINS OF BACKSLIDERS. 373 

ber thy sins." True, he has repeated the declaration by the 
prophet Jeremiah. " For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more." And, I will add, all this is con- 
firmed in two places by the apostle, and he uses the same 
words in both: "And their sins, and their iniquities, will I 
remember no more." But, then, the same apostle tells us how 
this important and wonderful event is to take place : " Be it 
known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this 
man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins." And, in 
another place, the instrumental and meritorious cause of the 
remission of sins. " Whom God hath set forth to be a propitia- 
tion, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for 
the remission of sins that are past." Now, to attempt to forget 
our sins prior to the time that God has forgotten them, before 
we have taken refuge at the cross of Christ, before the reliance 
of the soul upon the blood of Jesus for immediate and conscious 
pardon, would, unquestionably, be the very method to ruin the 
soul eternally. Therefore, you must not suffer the recollection 
of your sins to keep you from your Saviour. There is a danger 
of thinking too much about our sins, as there is of thinking too 
little of them. When the eye of the soul is fixed upon the 
" sins which are past," and the circumstances which led to their 
commission, to such a degree as not to have a moment left to 
look unto Jesus, then the matter is carried too far. You have 
received injury enough from your sins ; but, by this course, you 
must surely draw new and deadly poison from them. An em- 
bargo must be laid upon your thinking faculties. You must 
prohibit your thoughts from travelling over your sins so repeat- 
edly. You say, " I may as well try to control the whirlwind as 
my thoughts. They must have employment, — I cannot possibly 
lay them to rest. A sense of my danger, and a dread of dying 
without forgiveness, forbid my thoughts to be lulled into 
repose." I do not require that they be " lulled into repose," nor 
drowned in oblivion ; this is, perhaps, impossible ; but turn 
them into another channel, — send them to Calvary. Let them 
circulate, with ceaseless activity, around the bleeding cross. 
Employ them in the work of associating with a sense of guilt 
32 



374 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

an equal perception of that blood by which it is to be washed 
away. Let those untiring operations of your mind spend them- 
selves in fathoming the love of God in Christ Jesus. We may, 
indeed, say of this, as of the depths of the sea, no human sound- 
ing-line has ever reached the bottom ; yet, you will find it much 
more profitable to let thought, in its sleepless energy, travel this 
fathomless profound, than explore the dark abyss of your sins. 
Better, at every landing-place in that descent, to be forced into 
the exclamation of an apostle, " 0, the depth ! " than with the 
awakened sinner (Romans 7), sinking in " the horrible pit, and 
miry clay," crying in anguish and despair, " 0, wretched man 
that I am ! who shall deliver me ? " Had the poor serpent-bitten 
Israelite only bemoaned himself; had he, in spite of every 
entreaty, obstinately fixed his eye upon the wound, or agoniz- 
ingly gazed upon the path taken by the gliding serpent, which 
had given him his death-wound ; if he had firmly persisted in 
mourning over his own carelessness, in permitting himself to be 
bitten, reproaching his own culpable indifference to personal 
safety, when so many were writhing in agony insupportable, 
and the camp was horribly vocal with the hissing warnings of 
the flying serpents ; suppose, also, that his eye had continued 
wildly rolling to and fro, in order to guard against another 
attack, and all the time madly refusing to cast one look at the 
brazen serpent, erected upon the pole ; what, but death, and that 
a dreadful one, must have been his portion, if he had persisted ? 
I have not time to show how applicable all this is to your case ; 
your own good sense, however, can make the application. When 
the Israelite cast a dying look at the serpent on the pole, were 
it even through the mists of death, he was healed in a moment. 
May I entreat you again to look to Jesus ? 

Your repentance and convictions are deep enough when they 
bring you to the cross, and leave you there with your weeping 
eyes fixed on your bleeding Saviour, as your last and only hope. 
But when they drive you past, and far beyond, into the region 
of despair; or, when they frighten your approaching soul away 
from it ; and this, either from a dread of repulsion, or that your 
sins are so great that the atonement is insufficient ; then they 



PAST SINS OF BACKSLIDERS. 375 

are too deep. The devil has then the advantage of you ; he is 
most assuredly using the remembrance of your sins to complete 
your ruin, just as he did the commission of them to begin it. 
Think of the aged dying Christian, with which you were so 
much pleased. Neither friendship, nor honor, nor high renown, 
interested his mind, nor for a moment carried away his thoughts 
to a retrospect of the past. They were calmly and serenely 
centred in God. The name, the precious name of God in Christ, 
was dearer to his faltering heart than any object that had ever 
arrested that heart's affections. This name was the centre of 
his soul ; here it rested ; all else was forgotten as a dream ; this 
was enough ; this possessed a charm which defied the assaults 
of death, and saved him from dismay in his dying hour. " His 
final hour brings glory to his God." 

"You see the man ; you see his hold on heaven ! 
A silent lecture, but of sovereign power ! 
To vice confusion, and to virtue peace." 

O, then, withdraw your mind from all the past, from all your 
sins. Your thoughts are intense ; let their intensity be fixed on 
Jesus. 

Again I say, look unto him and be saved. Think about 
Christ, — his death, — his blood, — his sufferings. Now, let 
Jesus be precious : " To you who believe he is precious," says the 
apostle. Precious Jesus ! He died for thee, my brother. Is he- 
not " the chief among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely " ? 
Think of what one has said about him : 

" All the names that love could find, 
All the forms that love could take, 
Jesus in himself hath joined, 
Thee, my soul, his own to make." 

Are you not this moment in the act of falling upon your knees ? 
Matt. 6 : 6. Behold him, Lord ! In imagination I see you just 
going to the cross, approaching Jesus, saying, 

"With throbbing head, and heaving breast, 
Saviour, I fly to thee for rest ; 
With trembling hands, and tottering leet, 
I reach the cross, my sole retreat." 



376 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

I think 1 hear you there ; the fountains of the great deep are 
broken up. The windows of heaven are opened ; the wounded 
breast is discharging all its grief into the bosom of Jesus. The 
cry is ascending, " Save, Lord, or I perish ! " It is enough; by 
faith I see the Lord passing by and proclaiming himself, " The 
Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and 
abundant in goodness and truth." I think I hear Jesus saying 
to your tortured heart, " Peace, be still ! " and there is a calm, a 
sweet, heavenly calm. Sunshine, glory, and heaven, descend 
from God into your heart. O, my Lord, let it be while he is 
reading this paper ! 



CHAPTER XXII. 

BACKSLIDERS MUST TAKE RIGHT VIEWS OP GOD. 

Your state of soul surprises me. I feel persuaded the hin- 
drance must be in yourself. I verily believe God has no excep- 
tions against you. He is as willing to bless you as the scores 
of immortal souls who are now finding pardon in this city. 
Broken-hearted penitents are obtaining mercy every night. God 
is the same everywhere ; and he is able and willing to bless you 
in # # * #, surely he is. I could, it is true, wish you were 
with us in this powerful revival ; but, as this cannot be, it need 
not be a bar. O, no ! I do think you may adopt the language 
of a verse in our hymn-book : 

11 In me is all the bar, 
Which thou wouldst fain remove." 

That bar may be unbelief, or impatience, or indistinct and con- 
fused, perhaps erroneous, notions of faith. There may be an 
unwillingness to venture fully on the merits of the atonement, in 
the absence of peace and joy; not knowing that these always 
follow faith, but never precede it. You must first believe ; that 
is, venture freely and fully upon the merits of Christ's blood for 
pardon and acceptance with God now. When you thus repose 
upon the merits of Christ's death, by faith, for the present and 
everlasting salvation of your soul, saying, 

" This all my hope and all my plea, 
For me the Saviour died," — 

hold here. Remain fixed on this ground. It cannot fail ycu. 
Now, look up ; honor the Father, as you honor the Son. Perhaps 
you ask, "What do you mean by this?" By what? "You 
33* 



378 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

tell me to honor the Father as I honor the Son." I will explain 
it. You could not trust in the blood of Christ, unless you 
believed that his blood was an atonement for your sins. Fur- 
ther, is it not the belief that Jesus loves you and makes you 
welcome to trust in his blood for salvation, which encourages 
you to come to him, confiding in the merits of that blood ? But 
is it not a fact, that, as often as you have ventured thus upon 
that atonement, you have felt that if there were no other 
hindrance than Jesus you would soon be happy ? At such 
seasons you think of Jesus as the only person in the adorable 
Trinity who has any kindly feeling for you. Your unhappy 
mind cannot think of " the everlasting Father," without the idea 
being associated that " he is a consuming fire : " and Jesus is 
considered as a rampart of defence between you and him. This 
must be the state of your mind surely, or you would not refer to 
that verse in the Wesleyan hymn-book : 

" I trust in Him who stands between 
The Father's wrath and me ; 
Jesus, thou great eternal Mean, 
I look for all from thee." 

The sentiment of the verse is correct, when applied to the 
state of sinners out of Christ. It is written, " The wrath of God 
is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness of men." 
Another passage teaches us the solemn lesson, " God is angry 
with the wicked every day." It is also written, " It is a fearful 
thing to fall into the hands of the living God, for our God is a 
consuming fire." And the reason why this wrath is not inflicted 
with fury, — the reason why this " consuming fire " does not break 
forth in scorching flames upon a world of sinners, — is, that we 
have an "Advocate with the Father," and "he ever liveth to 
make intercession." Jesus Christ is " the propitiation for the 
sins of the whole world." The word propitiate means to render 
favorable ; to conciliate an offended person, so as to lead him to 
be propitious, merciful, and kind to the offender. The offended 
Creator is, then, 

" The indulgent God, 
Swift to relieve, unwilling to destroy." 



BACKSLIDERS MUST TAKE RIGHT VIEWS OF GOD. 379 

The wicked provoke the wrath of God, but Christ is the Medi- 
ator. Our Lord illustrates this in the parable of the barren fig 
tree. As long as men continue to sin against God, there is 
wrath ; Christ intercedes, and sinners are " saved from wrath 
through him." But when the wicked continue to do wickedly, 
and the divine forbearance becomes exhausted, then the wrath 
of God breaks forth, as it is written, " They mocked the 
messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his 
prophets ; until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, 
till there was no remedy." Strictly speaking, however, the 
sentiment of the first two lines of the above verse is not applica- 
ble to a soul which fully trusts in the blood of Christ for the 
forgiveness of sins. The moment any penitent sinner rests upon 
the atonement, as I have been describing, God is that moment 
reconciled ; wrath does not then exist. God is then love, noth- 
ing but love ; and when the mind believes this, the love of God 
is immediately shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost. 

In order, therefore, to receive the benefit of believing in Christ, 
this must be believed, also ; that is, that God is reconciled. It is 
only when we believe that God loves us, that we can love him 
in return. If so, the mind must recognize priority of love in the 
bosom of God, before it can reciprocate, and offer love for love. 
The following beautiful passage, from the writings of St. John, 
is constructed upon reciprocal love, — love mutual, — love in 
return for love ; but, that love existing previously in God the 
Father : — " We love him, because he hath first loved us." 
God's love, therefore, kindles ours. There are certain glasses 
which concentrate in a focus the rays of the sun, so that sub- 
stances are kindled into a flame ; and thus blaze back again the 
heat which the orb of day originated. " He that cometh unto 
God must believe that he is." Belief is faith. Faith reflects 
God upon the mind. A poet says, 

"Faith lends its realizing light, 

The clouds disperse, the shadows fly ; 
The invisible appears in sight, 
And God is seen by mortal eye." 



380 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

Faith sits upon the soul, and realizes the glory of the Almighty. 
God shines on faith. Faith discovers that God in Christ is love, 
— love beyond degree. Faith becomes the burning-glass to the 
soul. It collects, as in a focus, the rays of love issuing from 
God. This kindles our hearts into a flame, and our souls blaze 
back again the holy flame which God's love originated. Then 
we can say, as one said upon a different occasion, 

" Hanc animam in Jlammis qjfero, Christe, tibi." 

" In flames of fire, I offer this soul of mine to thee, oh Christ." 

Until you thus realize that the moment you thus trust in the 
merits of Christ you are loved of the Father, and with a love 
as ardent as that which is felt by the Son, you never can honor 
the Father even as you honor the Son ; and, in that case, you 
cannot be converted to God. The bar, therefore, is all in your- 
self. God would willingly remove it. O, permit him to do so, 
by thinking rightly of him. 

You say, " I do not consider God as a consuming fire, when I 
trust in Christ. This is not my difficulty. It is this : when I 
thus trust, I am unable to view God in any other position than 
as removed to an immense distance from me. I feel I have a 
days-man with the Father ; and, that infinite as the distance is 
between me and God, yet he lays his hand upon both to effect a 
reconciliation ; but I cannot consider the Father in any other 
state than cold and repulsive, and unwilling to be reconciled. 
Though I endeavor to trust in the merits of Jesus, conscious 
that I can do no more, I am unable to think otherwise than that 
my Mediator has hard work to persuade the great God to look 
with compassion upon me." How insulting to God is this cursed 
unbelief! How it wrongs him! How injurious also to the 
soul ! With such thoughts you never can be happy nor accepted. 
Were your views of God the same as noticed in my last, " that 
God is a consuming fire to the approaching penitent, although 
venturing to trust in Christ," then I should consider you as 
standing in dread before " the God of all grace." It may be 
well said of the soul, when realizing such elements of terror, that 
peace must be as absent from the heart as love. But if a notion 



BACKSLIDERS MUST TAKE RIGHT VIEWS OF GOD. 381 

so erroneous as the above does not fill you with fear, it must 
certainly chill your soul into alienation and distrust; both of 
which are positive enemies to that warm and confiding love 
which is so essential to a religion which makes the soul happy. 
In the above sentiment you honor the Son, but you dishonor the 
Father. As long as you do this, your mind will be overcast 
with the gloomiest clouds, and its abiding state " the spirit of 
bondage again to fear." Perhaps you anxiously inquire, " What 
shall I do ? How can I change those views which seem to be 
the very element of my mind ? I may wish these perceptions of 
God banished, if they are wrong ; but I cannot, by dint of resolu- 
tion, drive them from me." No; probably not. The mind 
cannot, perhaps, act in this case without motives. It may be 
powerless to expel wrong ideas without assistance; but what 
your mind may be unable to do under certain circumstances, it 
may accomplish under others. I recollect, some years ago, 
reading a sermon, the title of which was the " The Expulsive 
Power of a New Affection." Now, may there not be an expul- 
sive power in a new class of ideas ? If those are usurpers with 
which I have been finding fault, may they not be forced to 
abdicate in favor of those whose right it is to wield the sceptre 
of the mind ? If the former are but visionary, is it likely they 
shall long contend with realities ? Do you inquire, " What are 
the ideas you wish me to entertain ? Let me know them, and 
I will give them as welcome a reception as those which have 
hitherto swayed my soul." The first passage I shall quote, 
wherein is a leading idea, is John 5: 23, — "That all men 
should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father." This 
passage proves that Jesus Christ is a proper Person of the Holy 
Trinity, upon an equality with the Father, and to be honored 
equally with Him. This is the evident claim. Now, this claim 
of our blessed Lord was not only designed to guard his own 
right to divine honors, but those of the Father also. It is just as 
evident that he does not claim more honor than is given to the 
Father, as it is that he does not admit of any less. The passage, 
therefore, is calculated to impress this sentiment upon the mind, 
that the Father is not to be honored less than the Son ; this is 



382 HEVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

just as clear as that the Son is not to receive any less honor 
than the Father. But is there not an infringement upon this 
rule when, under certain circumstances, you suppose the Father 
loves you less than the Son ? 

The sentiment that Jesus is all love, when you endeavor to 
trust in the merits of his death, but that the Father is cold and 
distant, with respect to you, is dishonoring to the Father. You 
are then unquestionably withholding from him an honor which 
is justly his due. It is quite plain to me that you and the 
Socinians are in opposite extremes. The Socinians give God- 
head honors to the Father, but offer to the Son an honor 
infinitely less, because they consider him a mere creature, though 
a created being of the highest order ; yet what proportion can 
magnitude, however great, if only Jinite, bear to that which is 
infinite ; seeing that 

' ' A million 
Is full as far from infinite as one ! " 

In the estimation of the Socinians, he is a creature still; and 
that places him at a distance infinite from God. Thus they 
refuse to obey the requirement of our Lord Jesus Christ. You 
go to the other extreme. Christ stands forth to your faith as 
the Second Person in the adorable Trinity. You adore him as 
God. This is right. In the merits of his blood you feel it to 
be your duty to trust, singly and alone, for salvation; and your 
faith anticipates Christ as full of compassion and tender love 
towards you. Now, this is perfectly scriptural, so far as Jesus 
Christ is concerned; but your faith is sadly defective upon 
another point of.vital importance, — that the Father is cold and 
repulsive, and that, were you to cast yourself fully upon the 
atonement, he would frown you away from his presence. Hence, 
you asperse his character by impeaching him with affections 
which he has never felt towards any penitent sinner who has 
renounced every other plea for mercy, and trusted sincerely in 
the merits of Christ's death for pardon, and acceptance. The 
Socinians dishonor the Son by denying him the honors of the 
Eternal Godhead, and that on an equality with the Father; you 



BACKSLIDERS MUST TAKE EIGHT VIEWS OF GOD. 383 

dishonor the Father by refusing him the honors of redemption, 
and that on an equality with the Son ; as if the Father had no 
part in the wonderful scheme, but as if Christ alone planned it, 
as well as became incarnate and died for our race, without the 
approbation or consent of the Father ; or if anything like a con- 
sent was given, yet that in the sight of all heaven it was "icy, 
cold, unwilling." The Socinians refuse to believe that the fol- 
lowing declaration of John proves that Jesus Christ made the 
world, and is, therefore, God : " In the beginning was the Word, 
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The 
same was in the beginning with God. All things were made 
by him ; and without him was not anything made that was 
made." 

But you refuse to believe the declaration of Jesus Christ him- 
self, a declaration which equally proves that love in the bosom 
of the Father was the procuring cause of the "unspeakable gift," 
the incarnation of his own Son : " For God so loved the world, 
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in 
him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Do you not, 
therefore, wrong and dishonor the Father ? Was there love in 
him in the bestowing of the gift ; and shall there be no love in 
the acceptance of it ? Can you assign any reason for such a 
reserve ? Shall we impute it to the believing act of the penitent 
sinner, or tax the Everlasting Father with capriciousness or 
inconstancy? Strange, that the doings of the penitent should 
fan the flame of love in the bosom of the Son, and at the same 
time extinguish it in the bosom of the Father! Strange, that 
he of whom it is said, "In whom there is no variableness, neither 
shadow of turning," should beseech the sinner *to be reconciled 
to him; and also continue his entreaties during the many years 
of his rebellion ; and now, when the sinner is reconciled, and 
entreating pardon on the part of God, fulfilling at the same time 
the conditions of reconciliation, that he should, all at once, refuse 
to be propitious ! Surely such views of God cannot be right ! 

Consider : was not the plan of reconciliation laid by the Holy 
Trinity in heaven, and carried into effect when the whole world 
was in a state of rebellion ? Reflect upon the declaration of the 



384 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

apostle : "When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God 
by the death of his Son ; " and is it possible, when the sinner 
casts away his weapons, and accepts of the terms of reconcili- 
ation, that Godwill then put on an altered look, and be less wil- 
ling to be reconciled to the penitent sinner, now that he is sup- 
plicating for mercy at his feet, than when he was an enemy ? 
Is it not evident to yourself that the ideas you have entertained, 
as stated at the beginning of this letter, are visionary and unjust ? 
Do not those which I have suggested appear scriptural and 
rational? Certain I am, that if you give them a place in your 
belief, those imaginary phantoms shall, as a dream in the night, 
vanish away before the light of God's reconciling countenance. 

Say not a word respecting any trouble you may imagine me 
to be at in writing " so many letters to one so unworthy." You 
are worthy of all this, and a thousand times more, especially 
from a fellow-sinner like the writer. True, my sins are for- 
given, my soul is cleansed ; but then I owe the more unto my 
Lord, and to the precious souls for whom he died. I shall feel 
myself abundantly compensated, when I learn that God has 
visited your soul with his pardoning love, — when I learn that, 

" The winged hopes, which glanced and sang 
In joy's melodious atmosphere, returned have, 
To welcome back the gladness of the soul." 



CHAPTER XXm. 

THE BACKSLIDER ENCOURAGED. 

I am not at all surprised that your feelings are so much 
changed for the better. The cause is plain ; your views of your 
Heavenly Father are materially improved. Had you continued 
to entertain those wrong thoughts of God, your soul would still 
have been involved in clouds and darkness. I perceive, how- 
ever, that the state of your mind is yet " the spirit of bondage 
again to fear." You are more encouraged than happy. You 
have some light, but no heat, no love ; I think you have the day- 
light of religion, but not the sunshine. Day-break, you know, 
is often cold and cheerless. Sometimes there is quite an uncer- 
tainty as to the indications of the heavens, as well as to the 
aspect and identity of surrounding objects ; but when the sun 
ascends the horizon, uncertainties vanish ; the appearances of 
things have changed wonderfully ; a flood of day comes forth 
from the east ; the heavens and the earth are showered with 
rays ; a sunny glow spreads itself over all nature ; a new crea- 
tion appears everywhere to the admiring eyes ; all is soft and 
glowing variety ; light, heat, animation, bustle, and surrounding 
joy, render a doubt of day impossible. Thus it is with the soul. 
There is a promise which runs thus : " But unto you that fear 
my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise, with healing in 
his wings." Until this takes place, the sky of the mind, and 
the surface of the heart, shall be, like the heaven and earth on 
a winter's day-break, black and cheerless. At such a time it is 
not surprising if the unhappy sinner is compelled, by his wretch- 
edness and dread uncertainty, to say, with Arbuthnot, 
33 



386 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

"Almighty power, by whose most wise command, 
Helpless, forlorn, uncertain, here I stand ; 
Take this faint glimmering of thyself away, 
Or break into my soul with perfect day." 

Light may have come, and faith have recognized it too, but 
unbelief is not asleep ; the voice of the demon will be heard from 
the murky shades of the soul. Unbelief will say to glirrmering 
faith, as Zebul to Gaal, when he reported at such an hour, 
" Behold, there come people down from the top of the moun- 
tains." " Thou seest the shadow of the mountains as if they 
were men." Increasing light may silence unbelief on this point, 
but the comfortless state of the soul shall invite it to others just 
as annoying. Light may encourage, but it is only love which 
can render the soul happy. " There is no fear in love," says 
St. John. Love is the sunshine of religion. God's love towards 
us produces love in us. What but love can beget love ? " We 
love him, because he first loved us," says the same apostle. 
Confidence is the daughter of love. A poet might well term it 
" love-born confidence." But this can never take place till the 
command is applicable to the soul : " Arise, shine, for thy light 
is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." Then 
shall the " Sun of Righteousness " arise upon the soul " with 
healing in his wings." All then shall be real, conscious sun- 
shine. God's lovely countenance beams friendship upon the 
irradiated mind; the soul, through all her powers, feels the 
glowing influence ; or, in the language of the apostle St. Paul, 
" The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy 
Ghost which is given unto us." 

How expressive is this language of the apostle ! And yet 
some will tell us that a converted person cannot enjoy this in 
such a measure as to remove all doubt whether he be a child of 
God. But what is that to thee or me, seeing that it is written : 
" He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in him- 
self " ? As in nature it is not long from the break of day till sun- 
rise, so I trust the period is not far distant when you shall sing 
with a glad heart and free, 



THE BACKSLIDER ENCOURAGED. 387 

"The Sun of Righteousness ou me 

Hath rose, with healing in his wings ; 

Withered my nature's strength, from thee 
My soul its life and succor brings ; 

My help is all laid up above ; 

Thy Nature and thy Name is Love." 

As you wish me to enlarge a little upon a subject which 
appears to have afforded you " much light, and some comfort," — 
that is, that we should honor the Father even as we honor the 
Son, — I shall offer you a few additional thoughts upon the sub- 
ject. I do this the more willingly, because I do believe your 
faith is yet quite defective upon this point. It is not to be won- 
dered at that your mind is continually lapsing into " the spirit 
of bondage again to fear," when there is such a frequent recur- 
rence of the unhappy sentiment, that God the Father stands at 
such an infinite remove from reconciliation. When your weak 
faith, or rather unbelief, represents the Trinity as divided, and 
disagreeing in their desires to save and bless, your soul cannot 
but be confused, as well as unhappy. Were it even possible for 
you to honor the Son of God with love in return for love, your 
chilling and alienating views of the everlasting Father would 
speedily destroy the affection. Love would soon give place to 
fear. The probable impotency of Jesus to bring the Father to a 
reconciliation would very soon displace the pleasurable sensa- 
tion ; and others, such as distrust, disquietude, perplexity, and 
despair, would, ere long, succeed, and sway their sceptre over a 
heart in which a single tender emotion could not be found. 
Allow me, therefore, to correct the evil by carrying your mind 
forward to a set of just and scriptural notions upon this import- 
ant subject. When Christ had made the atonement, the point 
was not really then to be settled whether the Father was on 
reconcilable terms with the world ; but whether the world would 
accept the terms of reconciliation, and be reconciled to him. 
Every particular connected with the incarnation of Jesus Christ 
implied that God was desirous of a reconciliation between him- 
self and the creatures who had revolted from him. Observe 
further ; the whole phraseology of the New Testament goes to 
show that the very first overtures for a reconciliation were made 



388 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

by the Father ; and that these proposals were offered under cir- 
cumstances, and from affections, which should forever enthrone 
the Almighty Father in the grateful hearts of his redeemed 
creatures. I might quote a variety of passages from the word 
of God, to illustrate and prove this point, — passages which shall 
be everlasting witnesses between God and us, whether we are 
finally saved or damned. Perhaps two or three may, in this 
letter, be as good as many. Consider the following : " But God 
commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet 
sinners Christ died for us." 

Here you will observe the circumstances as well as affections 
referred to, and brought forward in a very condensed form. 
" While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." " We," our 
whole race, are represented as in the attitude of hostility, — 
direct and glaring rebellion against God ; the omniscient eye of 
Jehovah beholding us in this state, throughout the entire of our 
generations, to the end of time. At the same time, he himself 
is the insulted monarch. And while nothing was heard but the 
cry of rebellion against his eternal throne, — nothing seen but the 
polluted exhalation of our various abominations, coming up before 
him like the smoke of the bottomless pit, if I may use the ex- 
pression, — the heart of God warmed into love for our race ; and 
this, too, when as yet there were no signs of returning loyalty, 
or softening penitency, on the part of a rebel world. St. John 
might well say, " Herein is love, not that we loved God, but 
that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our 
sins." Love is not an inactive passion in human beings ; neither 
was it in our Almighty Father. Love prompted the effort to 
save, and wisdom contrived the means of saving us. Hence it 
is said, "He hath abounded towards us in all wisdom; "and 
again, "The manifold wisdom of God." Christ, in another 
place, is called the " wisdom of God." The plan was devised, 
that the Son of God should die in our stead, and thus make an 
atonement for the sins of the whole world. " While we were yet 
sinners, Christ died for us." If our world had suddenly become 
penitent ; had the cry ascended from millions of weeping suppli- 
cants, and the burden of that cry, " Mercy mercy / " as it hap- 



THE BACKSLIDER ENCOURAGED. 389 

pened at the conclusion of a certain civil commotion, when a 
considerable number of young men were about to suffer for their 
insurrectionary crimes ; but they had cast away their weapons, 
and approaching the throne of their highly offended monarch, 
"Mercy! mercy!" was the one and universal cry. Hearing 
their imploring voices, he was moved out of his indignation, and, 
melting into compassion, exclaimed, " Take them away, — I can- 
not bear it ! " that is, show them mercy. Ah, had such a scene 
as this taken place before the costly plan of our reconciliation 
was laid, we never could have had such an exhibition of the 
unmerited love of the Father! This, however, was not the 
case. And, at the period in the history of our globe when the 
standard of rebellion was proudly waving under the whole heaven, 
— when the nations of the earth had, as if by common consent, 
ceased to fight with each other, that they might have the more 
time to carry on the war against the laws and government of 
God, — it was now that God loved us. When rebellion was at its 
climax, God's love was in its noonday splendor. I speak after 
the manner of men. When the fulness of time was come, and 
the measure of our iniquities was full to overflowing, the love 
of the Father was a boundless ocean. When our transgressions 
had reached into hell, and mounted as high as heaven, God's 
love became so immeasurably great, so inexpressible, so incon- 
ceivable, that description was an impossibility. Human or an- 
gelic minds could not grasp it, nor language declare it. Christ 
himself did not attempt it, but just said: "God so loved the 
world, that he gave his only begotten Son." It will require 
eternal ages to fathom the meaning of that little word "so." 
Now, had it been said, the Father loved us, but refused any 
token of his love, then there might have been much room for 
doubt ; but when he gave such a demonstration of it as to part 
with his own Son, delivering him up for us all, that he might 
taste death for every man, and in a manner with which you are 
perfectly familiar, then, I will assert, there is no room for a 
single doubt of his love ; and not the least foundation for such 
views as have infested your unhappy mind. If the Almighty 
Father had made us a free donation pf heaven, and all its un- 
33* 



390 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

utterable glories, it could not have been such a convincing 
demonstration of his love as that which he has afforded us in 
the gift of his own Son. It might well be said, " God com- 
mendeth his love;" manifests it, and sets it forth in the highest 
possible manner " to vs." Our salvation was dearer to him than 
the life of his Son. And has God ever repented of this redeem- 
ing act ? Never ! It was, indeed, said on the eve of the deluge, 
that it repented him that he had made man ; but nowhere can 
you find it written that it has repented him to have redeemed 
man. Can you fail, therefore, to be convicted of this great truth, 
that the point to be gained by the Gospel ministry is to bring 
about the reconciliation of sinners to God ? Has it ever occurred 
to you that there is not a word in the New Testament about 
the reconciling of God to us ? I know not that the word is used 
in this sense in any part of the New Testament. 

Everything, therefore, necessary to a perfect reconciliation, 
has been prepared by God the Father ; and nothing is wanting 
but a believing acceptance upon our part. Can anything be 
more encouraging to a penitent sinner? How unjust, therefore, 
have been your past conclusions ! St. Paul, in 2 Corinthians, 5 : 
18, calls the Gospel ministry " The ministry of reconciliation ;" 
and again, that the " word of reconciliation " is committed to the 
preachers of the Gospel ; and in verse 19, he fixes upon the 
very point for which I have been contending, that the sum and 
substance of the Gospel is, that " God was in Christ, reconciling 
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto 
them ;" " not imputing" that is, not exacting the penalty due 
to our sins ; because the penalty has already been suffered in 
the person of Jesus Christ for us. That the suspicions and the 
jealousies so closely connected with guilt may depart from your 
soul, together with the enmity of your heart toward your recon- 
ciling and Almighty Father, is the sincere prayer of your affec- 
tionate brother. 

It is singular that you have so long overlooked that remarka- 
ble expression of the apostle, respecting the part the Father has 
sustained, and does sustain, in our redemption by Jesus Christ : 
" All things are of God." 2 Cor. 5 : 18. That is, he is the 



THE BACKSLIDER ENCOURAGED. 391 

Author and the efficient Cause of the plan of our salvation. 
Nothing can be plainer than the Scriptures upon this point, 
together with the unity of the Trinity in the redemption of our 
lost race. The plan of redemption is imputed to the boundless 
love of the Father, the working out of it to' the boundless love 
of the Son, and its success among men to the efficient agency 
and love of the Holy Ghost. Thus, there is an unbroken har- 
mony among the Persons of the Eternal Godhead in the work 
of saving our lost world. If it is written, " God so loved the 
world that he gave his only begotten Son," it is also stated in 
another place, " Christ also hath loved us, and hath given him- 
self for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smell- 
ing savor." And again, as if to render the harmony of the 
holy Trinity complete, the apostle, in the last chapter but one 
of the Romans, secures the same to the Holy Spirit; "the love 
of the Spirit." I deem it unnecessary to multiply passages; 
but how surprisingly has our gracious God provided for our 
faith upon such an important subject; that if there are three 
Persons brought before our faith in the unity of the Godhead, 
to whom we are accountable, that the assurance should be so 
full and convincing, we are equally loved by each ! How 
delightful to reflect that we owe our salvation to their equal and 
united love ! That if there was a unity in the plan, there was 
a unity in the love which accomplished it. How sweet to reflect 
that this love is this moment united in one undivided flame 
toward all who approach the throne of grace, through the alone 
merits of Him who poured out his soul unto the death for us ! 
It seems to me that you are this moment ready to sing, with an 
overflowing heart, what our congregations in this city often 
unite in singing, when it has been announced that some poor 
sinner has just been born of God : — 

" To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
Who sweetly all agree 
To save a world of sinners lost, 
Eternal glory be." 

Come, then ; but as you approach the mercy-seat, be boldly con- 
fident of a welcome to the bosom of your heavenly Father. 



392 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

" If any man serve me," says Jesus, " him will my Father 
honor." Now, to serve is to obey. But the penitent obeys 
Jesus when he obeys that blessed command, " Come unto me, 
all ye that labor and are heavy laden; take my yoke upon you, 
and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart." When 
this is sincerely done, we honor Jesus. But is the Father, then, 
a cold and distant spectator ? No; but " him shall my Father 
honor." But how can he honor the obedient and believing peni- 
tent better than to accept, pardon, and love him ? Hear what 
Jesus says, in John 14: 21, — "He that hath my command- 
ments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me : and he that 
loveth me shall be loved of my Father: and I will love him, 
and will manifest myself to him." So, then, if we love Jesus, 
by obeying him, we are immediately loved by the Father; and 
when the Father loves us, Jesus Christ loves us also. Does 
this show a coldness and an unwillingness on the part of the 
Father ? Behold, then, how visionary and unjust have been 
your views ! If anything can be required to strengthen all that 
has been said, it is with delight I refer you to a passage to 
which one of the class-leaders in this city has just turned my 
attention, when conversing upon this subject (John 16) : " At 
that day ye shall ask in my name : and I say not unto you, 
that I will pray the Father for you." As much- as to say, this 
shall be a matter of course, in virtue of my Mediatorship ; this 
you need not doubt; this you cannot doubt ; the many proofs 
of my love to you forbid it. But the Father shall require no 
entreaty : " For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have 
loved me, and have believed that I came out from God." 

These are beautiful and touching expressions. I hope in 
God that faith may soon realize their blessed import, and that 
the time is at hand when you shall be enabled to rejoice in the 
Lord, " with joy unspeakable and full of glory." 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE BACKSLIDER RESTORED. 

You may, indeed, well call upon heaven and earth to assist 
you in celebrating the high praises of your pardoning God. 
How clearly do you now see that the Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost, were united in the great work of saving you out of the 
hands of all your enemies ! 

11 Now, unbelief, stand forth, and tell 
What is too hard for God." 

How peculiarly awful has been your case ! Through what a 
scene of mental conflict have you passed ! You have, indeed, 
paid dearly for your sin ; nor is it likely you will ever repeat it, 
or anything similar ; the penalty is too great, : — you have learned 
wisdom from what you have suffered, — should you again back- 
slide from God, the suffering to be endured is now no secret to 
youi conscience. It is not, therefore, likely you will hazard 
another such trial. It has been in your case, during your late 
trial, as it is with the damned in hell. Hell begins upon earth, 
and therefore we may look for a similarity in some respects ; 
such as self-reproach, self-torture, and unavailing regret. The 
extremes are great, it is true, as much so as time and eternity, 
finite and infinite ; and therefore the degrees must be different, 
while the mental materials are the same. An hour after you 
felt your innocence and peace had departed, you would have 
given a thousand worlds the circumstance had not occurred ; 
but what was done could not be undone, nor yet banished from 
your memory, — the sting was left behind ; and, in all the bit- 
terness of unavailing regret, you gave yourself up to "lamenta- 
tions, and mourning, and woe." Thus, while the justice of 
God has received a sufficient vindication, your future faithful 



394 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

ness is also secured; perhaps, your zeal and usefulness also 
What humility and gratitude are manifest in your expressions ! 
What a dread of falling into sin again! How strong and 
determined the resolution to avoid everything that would grieve 

your Lord ! 

"After all that I have done, 
Saviour, art thou pacified ? 
Whither shall my vileness run ? 

Hide me earth, the sinner hide ! 
Let me sink into the dust, 

Full of holy shame, adore ! 
Jesus Christ, the Good, the Just, 
Bids me go and sin no more ! 

" O confirm the gracious word, 

Jesus, Son of God and Man! 
Let me never grieve thee, Lord, 

Never turn to sin again : 
Till my all in all thou art, 

Till thou bring thy nature in, 
Keep this feeble, trembling heart ; 

Save me, save me, Lord, from sin." 

How has God frustrated the designs of the devil ! He thought 
nothing less than that he had effected a breach between God 
and you, which would last forever. How wonderfully has 
the Lord overruled the works of the devil : " Out of the eater 
came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness." 
Judges 14: 14. And now that you are forgiven, — now that 
the storm is hushed, and a holy calm has overspread your storm- 
beaten heart, — now that all the clouds with which conscious 
guilt had overcast your sad and shuddering soul have vanished 
away before the sunshine of that countenance which has beamed 
upon you from above, — »now that the light of the glory of God, 
in the face of Jesus Christ, has illumined your soul, you may 
venture a look upon the past. 

Is it not a matter of surprise to yourself, that after all the 
rich blessings you had received from God, — the many months 
of sweet communion you enjoyed with himself, when 

" With cords of love he drew you on, 
And half revealed his face," — 



THE BACKSLIDER RESTORED. 395 

that you should have been so much off your £uard as to have 
permitted the devil and your own corruptions to drive you to 
and fro, as a leaf in the wind, until you were carried away, 
body and soul, into captivity and death ? 

Perhaps, when you take your education into the account, 
your astonishment may be increased. Illumined as your mind 
was, by the light of science as well as by that of religion, you 
were much better prepared to judge between vice and virtue 
than the vulgar herd of mankind. You were capable, both by 
education and religion, to look over and far beyond the multi- 
tude ; qualified, not only to give an example, both in word and 
deed, but also to profit by the example of others, whether good 
or bad. The punishment of many for their follies should have 
been admonitory and instructive to you. It was quite enough 
for you to know, by observation upon others, that " the way of 
transgressors is hard," without proving it to be so for yourself. 
Had you been faithful, the example of others should have made 
your cautioned soul withdraw from the road which led them to 
ruin ; and this should have been your happiness. Instead of 
having obtained wisdom at so dear a rate, you might have 
looked upon the damage sustained by others, and so have 
become more wise and happy. I write not these things to 
reproach you, nor to cast a gloom over your happy mind, but 
from an anxiety that you may profit as you should from your 
melancholy fall. Now that you have recovered yourself out 
of the snare of the devil, by whom you have been " led captive," 
deep humility is becoming. That is a very remarkable passage 
in Ezekiel 16: 68: "That thou mayest remember and be 
confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of 
thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou 
hast done, saith the Lord God." Humility is taught here. 
Never to open thy mouth any more to boast, to murmur to 
judge harshly of others. 

But the passage does not mean that you should bury your 
talent, by refusing to speak for God, or to bear testimony as to 
what God has done for you, as well as to exhort others to seek 
the same salvation. Beware of this snare of the devil, — he 



390 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

will drive you to extremes, if he can. It is highly proper that 
you should learn some important lesson from what you have 
suffered, for the guidance of your future history. But I must 
close. Be watchful. Live much in the spirit of prayer. Live 
a life of faith on the Son of God. 

" Forever here my rest shall be. 
Close to thy bleeding side." 

If you wish to ward off " the spirit of bondage again to fear," 
keep the love of God in your heart ; but this you never can do 
unless you keep faith there, — faith in the blood of Jesus. Press 
after holiness ; rest not till you love God with all your heart. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

OF PRAYER. 

Concerning prayer the Scripture phraseology is, pray always, 
pray continually, pray without ceasing, pray with perseverance. 
Mr. Wesley describes it as "a spiritual respiration, by which 
the life of God is kept alive in the soul." The soldier may 
have his weapons, and the bird its wings, but they may not be 
always using them in the fighting and flying sense; there 
should be in us a gracious aptitude to pray, although we cannot 
be always upon our knees. " Praying always," says the apos- 
tle, " with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching 
thereunto with all perseverance." I remember reading a remark 
somewhere equivalent to this, — that, when the saint is likely 
to be foiled by the world, the flesh, or the devil, prayer is the 
letter which he sends post to heaven, for fresh supplies of the 
Spirit, whereby he becomes more than conqueror. That was a 
fine saying of a good man, now with God, " God looketh not so 
much on the elegancy of our prayers, how neat they are, — nor 
on the geometry of our prayers, how long they are, — but to the 
sincerity of our prayers, how hearty they are." The heart 
should always be in tune ; ready, upon the least touch of the 
Holy Spirit, to discourse in the ears of God the sweetest music. 

11 O may my heart in tune be found, 
Like David's harp of solemn sound! " 

As to " language," who wants a display of eloquence from a 
needy beggar ? Love and sincerity in the heart, and the deep 
necessities of the soul, never fail to " set ofF," and render agree- 
able to the Lord, the most blundering language. When in 
Leeds, Yorkshire, I was told of a poor ignorant peasant, who 
got awakened to a concern about his soul, and was in great dis- 
34 



398 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

tress. He was at work, one day, upon the top of a high hill, 
which encouraged his heart much, because the old man thought 
" Surely, I am now nearer heaven than in the lowlands, and 
therefore I must be' nearer God." But he was sorely exercised 
and buffeted by the devil, notwithstanding; and on this account 
partly, — that God seemed, to his apprehension, to be still a great 
way off; and, being surrounded with a bulky material, he raised 
a great heap, clambered to the top of it, and considering that it 
was not possible to get any higher, he steadied himself upon 
his knees, and cried with a loud voice, " God Almighty, and his 
Son, Jesus Christ, baith [both] on ye, hear me!" His supplica- 
tions entered into the ears of God, and the distressed sinner 
then and there found mercy, and descended from his elevation 
freely justified through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 

I have heard many singular and coarse prayers offered to the 
Divine Majesty, during the last few years, and have wondered 
at the condescension of God ; but it was easy to perceive that 
the heart of the supplicator was sound, and full of faith and 
love. When we hear a bell ring, we can readily tell whether it 
be "sound or cracked," or what kind of metal it is made of. 
The bellman may ring it badly, and the clapper may be none 
of the best, and the frame-work very indifferent; but, however 
awkward the toll, there is no difficulty in deciding whether the 
bell itself be sound or the contrary. A spiritual mind may 
often make this distinction in regard to a praying brother ; but 
with God there can be no uncertainty, however we may be 
deceived. If many " Christians of taste " would but allow such 
a consideration to weigh with them, they might obtain much 
more good from the prayers of the poor, who are often rich in 
faith and love. 

Prayer must be sincere. Jacob said to his mother, " If I dis- 
semble, my father will find me out, and I shall receive a curse, 
instead of a blessing." It is written in the seventy-eighth Psalm 
that backslidden Israel " flattered God with their mouth, and 
lied unto him with their tongues," and no doubt made many 
long and eloquent prayers. But it is said in the one hundred 
and forty-fifth Psalm, "The Lord is nigh unto all them that 



OF PRAYER. 399 

call upon him; to all that call upon him in truth." I was told, 
the other day, of a good man, in a certain place, who was kneel- 
ing beside an individual in a prayer-meeting. The latter began 
to pray by addressing a long list of elegant compliments to the 
Almighty. At length, giving the coat of the praying brother 
a sharp twitch, the good man said, "Ask him for something, 
brother ! " 

War must be declared in the heart against all sin, though 
dear and necessary as a right eye, or foot, or hand (Matt. 5 : 
29, 30), or the Lord will not answer prayer. Hence, the cau- 
tionary reflection of the psalmist, " If I regard iniquity in my 
heart, the Lord will not hear me." 

Prayer must be ardent. " Prayer without a heart," says one, 
" is like a body without a soul ; what a deformed, loathsome 
thing is a body without a soul Ntruly, so is thy prayer without a 
heart." And it must be persevering. Instance that remarkable 
prayer of Daniel, ninth chapter; how earnest the following 
words: "O Lord, hear; Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken, 
and do ; defer not for thine own sake, oh my God ; for thy city 
and thy people are called by thy name." I have read of one 
Paulus JEmilius, who, on the eve of a battle with the Mace- 
donians, would not give over sacrificing to his god, Hercules, 
until he imagined there were signs of victory. What a lesson 
is here for Christians ! " Every good prayer," says Bishop 
Hall, "knocketh at heaven for a blessing; but an importunate 
prayer pierceth it, and makes way into the ears of God." 

I have listened, before now, to the clock when striking ; how 
actively and nimbly the wheels within seem to be going ! It is 
even thus with the converted heart, and even with the true 
penitent, — there is a stir within. 

"Prayer ardent" draws out the whole soul after the blessing 
sought. When this is continued some time, for any special 
object, it is then supplication. Both terms are used in Ephe- 
sians 6 : 18; but they are not synonymous. Prayer is the simple 
desire of the heart expressed in words, and may be immediately 
answered, — or may gradually subside, in the same hour, into 
a silent and patient submission to the will of God, accompanied 



400 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

with the comforting promise, " My grace is sufficient for thee." 
Supplication is prayer continued ; it follows God up and down, 
as it were, day and night, begging, crying, entreating, and will 
give him no rest, — will not let him go, until he says, "Be it 
unto thee even as thou wilt." The great and good Mr. Cecil 
used to say, when one of his children cried, he would remain 
in his study, thinking that some toy or other might probably 
satisfy it ; but when it continued to cry, and nothing would do 
but his presence, then he came to the child immediately. This 
is supplication. 

You may probably remember the anecdote of Demosthenes 
and the client. One came to him in a court of law, where an 
important case was pending, and whispered in his ear that, 
unless he undertook his cause, he feared he should lose his 
suit : " I am already beaten," said the client. The orator replied, 
" I don't believe you." At last the man cried out, in great dis- 
tress. " Ay ! now I feel your cause," said Demosthenes. He 
only whispered before, and the statesman could not believe his 
cause was so desperate, and consequently had no feeling for 
him; but when he "cried," the effects were of quite a different 
character. Have you never observed the motions of a mother 
toward her child ? When it whimpers and whines a little, she 
will not run to it immediately, although she may cast many an 
anxious look in that direction ; but when it cries outright, she 
drops all, and is with it in a moment. We lose much for want 
of earnestness. James 5 : 16. " A low voice," says one, " does 
not cause a loud echo ; neither doth a lazy prayer procure a 
liberal answer. Sleepy requests cause but dreams, — mere fan- 
cied returns. When there is a cushion under the knees, and a 
pillow of idleness under the elbows, there is little work to be 
done. A lazy prayer tires before it goes half way to heaven. 
When Daniel was fervent all day, an angel was sent at night 
with the answer." Prayer must be according to the charter in 
1 John 5: 14; nor need we desire a larger: "If we ask any- 
thing according to his will, he heareth us" etc. Prayer, like a 
building in course of erection, must keep on the foundation of 
the word and promise of God, else the whole fabric must come 



OF PRAYES. 401 

to the ground. The psalmist understood this when he said, 
"Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast 
caused me to hope." "God," in the language of another, "like 
a wise father, denies us liberty to cry for the candle that would 
burn us, and the thorns that would prick our fingers ; " though 
the hedges are in the bloom of spring, and every thorn has its 
flower ; " but he gives us liberty, nay, commands us to besiege 
and storm heaven; day and night to give him no rest; to be 
instant, urgent, fervent, that our persons may be justified, our 
natures sanctified, and our souls and bodies glorified eternally." 

We should look for answers to prayer. This proves our sin- 
cerity, while it honors the veracity of God. There is a fine 
allusion in Psalm 5: 3, — some think it relates to archery; "I 
will direct my prayer unto thee," take aim, "and will look 
up." " I will watch the arrow, and see where it lights, or 
whether it hit the mark." Others have supposed a martial idea 
implied : "I will direct," — "set in order," as a general would 
say, — "I will rise early, set my requests toward God, as sol- 
diers in battalion ; in rank and file : I will so marshal them 
that they be not routed, by being out of order ; I will see that 
they stand in their places, and keep their ground. When I 
have so done, I will go to my watch-tower, and see the fight, 
and observe what execution they will make upon my adversa- 
ries ; whether my troops [prayers] have power with God, lose 
ground, or win the day." 2 Sam. 19 : 24, 28. "Prayer," says 
one, " is both a charm to enchant, and a scourge to torment 
Satan ; it engageth Christ in the combat, and assureth the soul 
of conquest." 

Come, then, my dear sir. Come to the throne of grace. 
You need a blessing. Come boldly, — 

" Heaven is never deaf, but when man's heart is dumb ; 
Heaven finds an ear when sinners find a tongue." 

" The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent 

take it by force." Matt. 11: 12. Fear not to agonize and cry 

to God. The mercies of God may be like fruit upon a tree ; 

though fully ripe, they may want a shaking to bring them down ; 

34* 



402 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

pray fervently, and in faith, and this will cause them to descend 
in blessings on your soul. 

Your views of drawing near to God are perhaps correct enough, 
only they would seem to carry the idea that God is cold, dis- 
tant, and immovable. If such was your meaning, nothing can 
be more incorrect. " Beware of too much refining." A writer, 
some years ago, attempted to illustrate prayer thus : A man in a 
small boat grapples a large ship with, a boat-hook, and draws 
himself alongside, but he never stirs the ship; therefore, it is by 
prayer we draw ourselves to God, — not God to us. Another uses 
the same figure, but substitutes a rope for the boat-hook, by 
which he pulls the boat to the ship, and not the ship to the boat. 
It is quite true we approach God by prayer ; and he who never 
prays has no right to expect any favor from God; and, dying a 
prayerless sinner, the separation between him and his Maker 
must be perpetuated throughout eternity. But I do not like the 
idea, however ingeniously carried out, that God is as stationary 
with regard to the returning sinner, or praying believer, as the 
ship to the boatman. It seems to make against the analogy of 
Scripture : " Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you." 
James 4 : 8. This seems like a proposal to meet us half way ; 
and if we take the example of the father, in the case of the prod- 
igal son (Luke 15), as illustrative of the willingness of God 
to receive returning sinners, our Heavenly Father performs the 
largest part. The prodigal did not run to meet his father, but 
the father ran to meet the repenting son, "and fell upon his 
neck, and kissed him." 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE BELIEVER IN AFFLICTION. 

The reader probably has often said, " It is to me a great 
mystery, why the Lord suffers his children to be afflicted, while 
the wicked are in prosperity, and have what they like." The 
reasons are unquestionably wise, though we may not be able to 
find them out in this world. You are aware that those who 
have often tried to turn baser metal into gold have always acted 
first upon the Latin motto, Abstractio terrestrietatis a materia, 
" The abstraction or drawing away of earthliness from the mat- 
ter of their metal." It is thus that God has to begin with our 
base souls, before they are turned into fine gold ; by affliction, if 
not by the fire of his Spirit, he abstracts our earthliness, etc. 
You may remember that Hercules could never conquer Antaeus 
"till he had lifted him up above the earth, his mother." 

The "furnace of affliction" not unfrequently accomplishes 
what other means cannot. That is a pretty idea of a poet : 

"As iron cold, and dark, and dead, 
Into a furnace cast, 

Warms by degrees, grows sparkling red, 
And turns mere fire at last, — 
So to the furnace of thy love 
May my cold heart aspire, 
Till, all transmuted from above, 
It glows a heavenly fire ! " 

The sentiments of an old divine, which just now occur to me, 
may perhaps be more satisfactory. "Why doth a father, when 
he seeth two boys fighting in the street, correct his son, and not 
the other ? Why doth the schoolmaster take a stricter account 
of the scholar he best affecteth, than of others, whom he suffereth 
to play the truant? Why doth the husbandman let the unfruit- 



404 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

ful and unsavory trees grow out at length, without pruning, but 
pruneth the fragrant roses, and pricketh the fruitful vines till 
they bleed? Why, but because the former are designed for fire- 
wood, and the latter for fragrance and fruit ? Why doth the 
physician, when he seeth his patient desperate, give order to 
them that are about him to deny him nothing that he hath a 
mind to; but if he hath any hope of the recovery of any patient 
of his, he keepeth him in diet, forbiddeth him such things as he 
most desireth, and prescribeth for him many meats and potions 
which go against the stomach ? Lastly, Why doth a captain set 
the best soldiers in the fore-front of battle, and appointeth them 
to enter in at the breach, with apparent hazard of their lives? 
Why, but that they may get the greatest honor ? " " Better," 
said a good man, " weep in Christ's school, than sport at the 
devil's games ; better to want all things, and to have God's love, 
than to have all things else, and want it. If it had not been bet- 
ter, Moses would never have chosen to suffer affliction with the 
people of God." Heb. 11: 15. 

I have read of an ancient nation, the nobles of which consid- 
ered it a great honor to be corrected by their prince ; and, though 
painful, yet they seemed to rejoice in it, thanking him for tak- 
ing such pains with them as to minister the correction to them 
himself. Read, at your leisure, Revelation 3 : 19 ; Deuteronomy 
8: 15; Proverbs 3: 11, 12; Hebrews 12: 9 to the 13th verse, 
inclusive; also, Genesis 4 : 13; Job 31 : 3; Hebrews 10 : 29; 
Leviticus 26 : 18. These passages, though they belong to sep- 
arate classes of Scripture declarations, and refer to very different 
characters, resemble so many glasses placed opposite to each 
other; they reflect a mutual and harmonious light. And surely 
you cannot deny that the wicked are also afflicted ; their afflic- 
tions, however, are penalties inflicted by their sovereign Judge ; 
but there is a difference between chastening and punishing ; the 
former implies a father, but the latter a judge ; in the one we 
have love, but in the other satisfaction to justice. " God as a 
Father," says some writer, " innicteth with grief and compas- 
sion, moderateth with mercy, and directeth by providence all the 
strokes laid upon his children." " Is not that elegant speech of 



THE BELIEVER IN AFFLICTION. 405 

St. Austin a riddle," said an individual, — " God chastens whom 
he loves, yet loves not to chasten ? " " Not at all," was the 
reply, " for a surgeon lances the flesh of his dearest friend or 
brother, in love, yet he takes no delight in lancing ; nor would 
he do it, but to prevent the festering of the sore." 

Perhaps your friend is saying, with one of old, " Show me 
that the countenance of God is not changed towards me, nor his 
affections estranged from me, and it sumceth ; surely, kisses and 
embraces, not blows and strokes, are love compliments. How 
may I be persuaded that God layeth this heavy cross upon me 
in love ? " " Nay," was the reply to the discouraged saint, " how 
canst thou not be persuaded, seeing he himself hath said, 'As 

MANY AS I LOVE, I REBUKE AND CHASTEN ' ? " Rev. 3 : 19. 

Let her consider the case of poor Benjamin. Did not Joseph 
love him better than all his brethren ? and yet he suffered most 
severely ; for the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. 

11 Afflictions oft but serve to hide 
Some good as yet unknown." 

I know not that we are called to have a liking for affliction ; 
nature, I think, may recoil, where there may be the elements of 
real submission to God ; Matthew 26 : 39 is worthy of her con- 
sideration : " If it be possible, let this cup pass from me," would 
seem to indicate an unwillingness to suffer, — at least, a shrinking 
from it. " Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt," " seems 
to show," said a good man, " a resolute will. Here is a consent 
of will, without a will of consent ; a will against a will, or a will 
and not a will ; non mea, sed tua. As man, our Lord had a 
natural fear of death, and a desire of life, yet with a submission 
to the will of his Father. It was not his will to take that cup 
for itself, and antecedently, and as he saw wrath in it; yet as he 
saw the salvation of man in it, and greater glory, it was his will 
to drink it off consequently, because such was his Father's good 
pleasure, to which his will was always subordinate." 

God has said, " As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten." 
Mrs. * * * , then, is one of the many. It is her privilege 



406 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

to have it to say in the future, although at present it is not joy- 
ous, but grievous : 

" It was a sanctified distress, 
And brought new joys to me." 

Moses doubtless saw many interesting things in the pleasant 
gardens of Egypt, but he "must needs" go into the wilderness 
of Sinai to see what he saw in the thorny bush. It was not in 
pleasant scenes, nor in the gardens of spices, nor in the sunshine 
of prosperity, the spouse in the Song of Solomon found him 
whom her soul loved ; but in the dark night of adversity, when 
there were none to help, and many discouragements. Her 
Heavenly Father is only making good that prediction of our 
Lord,' " Ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice ; 
and ye shall be sorrowful." Let her, however, remember, that 
the same verse contains a blessed promise : " But your sorrow 
shall be turned into joy." Matt. 16 : 20. " For our light afflic- 
tion, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more 
exceeding and eternal weight of glory." 2 Cor. 4 : 17. 

Tell her, from me, that it does not seem unfit that those who 
are to enjoy a high state of honor, a weightier glory, and a 
brighter crown in heaven, should carry a heavier cross upon earth. 
It would seem that the Lord, who is all goodness, is desirous of 
making her a partaker of all the happiness of which she is 
capable; but still, it requires another world to explain and 
illustrate all the ways of God towards us in the present. 

What you mention has been termed by one " Satan's master- 
piece." Yet I find it difficult to make those nice distinctions 
you require. That the devil often attempts to rob those of the 
true jewels of grace who have them, and to deceive them with 
counterfeits in their place, I cannot doubt ; and, that he palms 
them off upon those who never have had saving grace, I do not 
question. " He imitates," says a writer, " a cunning lapidary, 
who insinuates into the company of a rich merchant, and getting 
a sight of his cabinet of jewels*, cheats him with counterfeit 
stones." 

I happened upon a distinction, the other day, in an old book. 



THE BELIEVER IN AFFLICTION. 407 

which may render you some assistance in the work of self- 
examination. 

' Religion is a true jewel, Superstition is a counterfeit. 
Humility a jewel, Pusillanimity a counterfeit. 
Spiritual Wisdom a jewel, Worldly Policy a counterfeit. 
Liberality a jewel, Prodigality a counterfeit. 
Tenderness of Conscience a jewel, Scrupulosity a counterfeit. 
Severity a jewel, Cruelty a counterfeit. 
Clemency a jewel, Indulgence a counterfeit. 
Zeal a jewel, Indiscreet Fervor a counterfeit. 

Diligent Search into Divine Mysteries a jewel, Curiosity a counterfeit. 
Inward Peace a jewel, Carnal Security a counterfeit. 
Confidence in God a jewel, Presumption a counterfeit. 
Constancy a jewel, Pertinacity a counterfeit." 

You may inform Mr. * ^ ^ that it has never appeared to 
me there is any difference, or want of reconciliation, hetween 
St. Paul and St. James, on the subject of "faith and good 
works." True, St. Paul speaks of our being justified by faith 
only, without works; and St. James, of our being justified by 
our works ; but the former refers to works done before justifica- 
tion, and of the impossibility of obtaining pardon of sins by 
them ; but the latter speaks of works done after justification, 
and that faith without works is dead, being alone, — that we 
justify our assertion, that we enjoy saving faith, when we prove 
our faith by our works. I think a divine, of the seventeenth 
century, grapples effectually with the dangerous principles of 
* * * ; it is the only reply I have time at present to send, 
whatever may be done in the future : " Let no man adulterate 
the truth, nor impose upon Christ's mercy what it will not bear; 
nor endeavor to sever faith from good works, lest he sever his 
soul from life. For though faith justify our works before God, 
yet our works justify our faith before men. Hence, saith St. 
James, ' Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show 
thee my faith by my works.' James 2 : 18. All persons who 
hope for eternal life should desire, with the apostle St. Paul, 
Phil. 3 : 9, recognizing at the same time those expressive -words 
of Christ Jesus, Mat. 5 : 20. Faith and good works must and 
do ever accompany each other, when faith is genuine and sav- 



408 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

ing; and anything short of that is devilish. James 2: 19. 
And again, in the same chapter : ' Even so faith, if it hath not 
works, is dead, being alone.' It is evident unto all, except they 
be blind, that the eye alone seeth in the body, yet the eye which 
seeth is not alone in the body, without the other senses ; the 
forefinger alone pointeth, yet that finger is not alone on the 
hand; the hammer alone striketh the bell, yet the hammer 
which striketh is not alone in the clock : the heat alone in the 
fire burneth, and not the light, yet that heat is not alone without 
light; the helm alone guideth the ship, and not the tackling, and 
yet the helm is not alone, nor without the tackling ; in a com- 
pound electuary, rhubarb alone purgeth the choler, yet the rhu- 
barb is not alone without the other ingredients. Thus we are to 
conceive, that though faith alone doth justify, yet that faith which 
justifieth is not alone, but joined with charity and good works. 
Many please themselves with a resemblance of Castor and Pollux, 
two lights appearing on ships, sometimes severally, sometimes 
jointly : if either appeareth by itself, it presageth a storm ; if 
both together, a calm ; (with their leave be it spoken) this their 
simile is dissimile. For those lights may be severed, and actu- 
ally are, often ; but justifying faith cannot be severed from good 
works, nor these from it. Thus far it holdeth, that unless we 
have a sense and feeling of both in our own souls, we may well 
fear a storm. St. Bernard's distinction of via regni, and causa 
regnandi, cleareth this point : ' Though good works are not the 
cause why God crowneth us, yet we must take them in our way 
to heaven, else we shall never come there. It is as impious to 
deny the necessity, as to maintain the merit, of good works.' " 

"Easy, indeed, it were to reach 
A mansion in the courts above, 
If swelling words and fluent speech 
Might serve instead of faith and love. 
But none shall gain that blissful place, 
Or God's unclouded glory see, 
Who talks of free and sovereign grace, 
Unless that grace hath made him free." 



THE BELIEVER IN AFFLICTION. 409 

With regard to your own experience in the things of God, 
there is nothing surprising that you find yourself encompassed 
by unexpected difficulties, while aiming at entire devotedness to 
God ; or that, in digging for the hidden treasure of " perfect 
love," you only find a little of it now and again, beneath a heavy 
cross. We are, indeed, " sanctified by faith ; " Acts 26 : 18 ; 
but crosses may lie in the way, and they must be taken up, in 
order to the steady venturing of soul, body, and spirit, upon the 
veracity of Jesus Christ in his promises. And, even after you 
have received that great blessing, in order to advance to the 
"perfecting of holiness," the cross must not be avoided. The 
cross may, indeed, cost you " more trouble and pain than the 
other part of the toil," but then you may find a treasure of love 
underneath every cross ; I cannot, therefore, see that you have 
any cause of complaint, though your crosses are numerous. It 
is recorded, that Tiberius Constantinus, in the year 577, ordered 
a golden cross, set in marble, to be dug up, that it might not be 
trodden upon by the unthinking ; but when this was done, there 
was another gold cross beneath it, and a second, and so a third 
and a fourth; but there is no intimation that Constantinus was 
sorry to have had so much trouble ; the gold of the cross made 
ample payment for the toil and expense of the digging. The 
persecuted Rutherford used to say : " Some have one cross, some 
seven, others ten, and some half a cross; yet all the saints have 
whole and full joy ; and seven crosses have seven joys." 
35 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

HINTS TO MINISTERS. 

A call to preach is frequently just what Jeremiah describes 
it to be. Although he was tempted to say, " I will not make 
mention of him, nor speak any more in his name," yet when he 
held his peace, he tells us the word of the Lord was in his 
heart as a burning fire shut up in his bones : " And I was weary 
with forbearing, and I could not stay." Jer. 20 : 9. The fol- 
lowing verse shows, that when he ceased to be the aggressor 
against the devil and his children, they united to injure his 
character and influence : "I heard the defaming of many," says 
he, " fear on every side. Eeport, say they, and we will report 
it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, peradven- 
ture he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and 
we shall take our revenge on him." 

The minister of Christ should ever be the assailant, — the 
invader of the devil's territories. He is always the safest in a 
revival of religion. This is his proper sphere ; and if called of 
God to preach the Gospel, in this he will be in his congenial 
element, — more happy in such active warfare than in any 
other part of his ministerial office. 

A call to preach may be buried in the heart, as live embers 
on the hearth are frequently covered with ashes ; there is no 
flame, nor perhaps scarcely a glow. What is to be done? 
Clear away the incumbent ashes ; stir up the coals, add fuel, 
and you may have a blaze ; a glorious revival ! 

"Jesus, confirm my heart's desire, 
To work, and speak, and think, for thee ; 
Still let me guard the holy fire, 
And still stir up thy gift in me." 



HINTS TO MINISTERS. 411 

I think you will find an answer to your inquiries in those 
striking sentiments of Mr. Wesley. I have not his works at 
hand, but I shall give the substance, as correctly as I can, from 
memory. " I have often been musing why the generality of 
Christians, even those who are really such, are less active for 
God when middle-aged than when they were young. May we 
not find an answer in those remarkable words of our Lord, 
repeated no less than eight times by the evangelists : « Foi 
whosoever hath,' that is, improveth what he hath, ' to him shall 
be given, and he shall have more abundance ; but whosoevei 
hath not,' hath not improved the gift of God, ' from him shall be 
taken away even that he hath.' A measure of zeal and activity 
is given to every man when he is born of God ; but if he cease 
or intermit to do good, he will insensibly lose both the will and 
the power." This I consider directly to the point. To every 
man, when called of God to preach, there is a measure of zeal 
and activity given ; zeal for the glory of God, and vigorous, con- 
stant efforts for the salvation of lost sinners. I also as firmly 
believe, that those who have entered the ministry without any 
such feelings, and from other motives, have miserably mistaken 
their calling; nor have learning and theological reading in 
general, nor the exercise of their ministerial functions, called 
into exercise any such feelings in the heart of such men. But 
a man may backslide from first principles ; he may lose that 
burning and consuming desire for the conversion of sinners ; he 
may cease or intermit to put forth active exertions for their sal- 
vation, so as insensibly to decline from his usual " zeal and 
activity," until he totally lose out of his soul " the will and the 
power " to do good, and thus become weak and feeble as another 
man. Thus, that which he had has been taken away ; and, not 
unfrequently, he loses his ability (in whatever sense you please), 
until he become the veriest drone, and a burden to the church 
of God. 

Let, therefore, the minister of Jesus continually improve upon 
what was given him when first called to preach the Gospel, and 
he shall gradually and rapidly increase in zeal and activity, — in 
power to do good, and success in doing it. But, if he " cease or 



412 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

intermit" his revival efforts, unless in case of ill health, or 
uncontrollable circumstances, he will insensibly lose his revival 
power, and become like another man. 

It is not necessary, perhaps, that a minister should backslide 
in heart or life, "popularly speaking," to lose revival zeal, 
activity, and ability. Let him change or soften down the matter 
and method of his sermons, and adopt a corresponding mode of 
operation, differing from what characterized him when he was 
as a flame of fire, and continually encompassed with penitent 
sinners and new converts; let him be content with his pulpit 
exhibitions, to the neglect of "those varieties of means," — 
prayer-meetings, exhortations, select meetings for penitents, 
personal conversation with sinners, joyful reception of and 
cooperation with local preachers and leaders, in prayer-meet- 
ings before and after sermon ; and very soon " the gift of God" 
will not only be taken from him, but he will most likely be 
found speaking against those things which were once his glory. 

It is a dangerous state of mind, when a minister begins to 
suffer himself to change plans, etc., which have been hitherto 
successful in the conversion of sinners. Not a few cases, dur- 
ing the last twenty years, have presented such glaring and fear- 
ful contrasts. A minister may still be popular, though he has 
backslidden from soul-saving. Secularities are hazardous. They 
may, indeed, be nothing more than church usages, which custom 
has thrown within the range of the duties of the preacher. He 
may become secular, " an active business man," without going 
out of the ministry ; but it is often at the expense of his spirit- 
uality and usefulness. He may, it is true, be doing all these 
things " for the good of the church," and her institutions ; still 
he may become secular in his spirit, and be more concerned for 
pounds, shillings, and pence, than for the number of sinners 
likely to be awakened and converted under his ministry. When 
"the collection" has been made and counted, he is satisfied (if 
it has been a good one), and will go home, and let poor sinners 
do the same, without staying to see whether the " good sermon," 
or powerful and stirring truths, he has uttered, have taken effect 
upon the ranks of wickedness ; whether there is not some poor 



HINTS TO MINISTERS. 413 

wounded penitent who may want healing, and for whose conver- 
sion faithful prayer should be offered. 

The church is frequently to blame; although the minister, 
from past associations and business habits, acquired before he 
entered the ministry, may have a bias for " arranging and trans- 
acting temporalities." The apostles themselves were in danger 
of being ensnared by these very things. They took the alarm, 
however, called the " multitude of the disciples " together, and 
said, " It is not reason that we should leave the word of God and 
serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among your- 
selves seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and 
wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will 
give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the 
word." Acts 6 : 1 — 5. It seems "the saying pleased the whole 
multitude," and proper men were immediately appointed over 
the " temporalities of the church." The results were just what 
might have been expected ; we are told in the seventh verse of 
the same chapter, " And the word of God increased ; and the 
number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly." 

But, you will say, " What is to be done, when, in many places, 
there are none to undertake the management of such matters ; at 
least, with the proper spirit ? They must, therefore, be left un- 
done, unless the preacher throws his energies into them." Well, 
then, I suppose the minister must take hold of them, and when 
a necessity is thus laid upon him, God will give him grace 
according to his day; and, I am happy to say there are minis- 
ters of God within the circle of my acquaintance in England 
who, though almost pressed to the earth by such cares, yet fre- 
quently rise above them, and preach the Gospel with the Holy 
Ghost sent down from heaven; and who enter into the revival 
as if they had not a single anxiety connected with the " seculari- 
ses of the church." 

Your remarks upon the "splendor of pulpit talents, and 
absence of fruit ; and on the inefficiency of such efforts in the 
awakening and conversion of sinners," are very good. I have 
known ministers who have substituted " eloquent preaching and 
well-studied sermons" for prayer-meetings after preaching, fre- 
35* 



414 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

quent exhortations, personal conversations with sinners, vigorous 
efforts for the conversion of penitents, and the cooperation of local 
preachers and leaders in such meetings ; nor have I ever yet 
observed splendor of talent, and blazonry of pulpit imagery, 
make up for the absence of these powerful auxiliaries to a Gos- 
pel ministry. Whereas, I have noticed men whose talents and 
learning were far inferior crowned with the most abundant suc- 
cess, by the employment of the helps to which I have just 
alluded. 

It is, however, to be feared that some repose over much confi- 
dence in prayer-meetings, etc., and too little in the preached 
word ; as if more could get converted in these means than dur- 
ing the deliverance of the Gospel message. This is to be regret- 
ted; for, surely, it would seem a most fit and proper time for 
God to save sinners, during the proclamation of the glad tidings 
of salvation. But let it be remembered that others run to the 
very opposite extreme ; and, if they do not scout the idea of a 
prayer-meeting, are seldom, if ever, seen in one. So far from 
staying to manage such a service, they disappear from the con- 
gregation as soon as their work is finished in the pulpit. Now, 
I think those preachers are most successful who unite both 
means together; who do not put asunder what God hath joined, 
— faithful, pointed, searching preaching, preceded and followed 
by the effectual fervent prayers of many righteous men. We 
are to wield the tremendous truths of God upon the consciences 
of sinners, and to offer them salvation just then, through faith 
in the blood of the Lamb. But, should it be discovered (and an 
earnest preacher will leave no means untried to find this out) 
that sinners have been awakened and wounded, — not healed, — 
not converted by the truth, what is his next duty? Let him 
have a prayer-meeting immediately : " Pray one for another that 
ye may be healed," saith the apostle. And, after all, what is a 
faithful prayer, but a repetition of the Gospel message in the 
sermon ? I have often listened to such prayers after I had fin- 
ished my discourse, and have perceived in them ten-fold more 
point and energy than in anything I had said, and far more 
effectual. Penitents are called forward to the communion rail 



HINTS TO MINISTERS. 415 

for prayer and instruction ; can there be anything wrong in this? 
The local preachers and leaders, and the minister himseJf, if 
you please, become acquainted with the feelings and hindrances 
of these individuals. The sight of their eyes affects their hearts; 
their sympathies are at once excited ; and there is a close con- 
nection between sympathy and " the prayer of faith." Is it to 
be wondered at, then, that the prayers are fervent and to the 
point, and full of that important declaration of Jesus: "As 
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the 
Son of Man be lifted up ; that whosoever believeth in him should 
not perish, but have eternal life." 

Whatever others may do, my brother, consider not your work 
finished when the sermon is over. Enter into the prayer-meet- 
ing. But you need not kill yourself. Wield the talents of the 
church of God. You are surrounded with praying men, or will 
be very soon, if your plans are once known ; men who will 
esteem it an honor and a privilege to cooperate with you in this 
blessed work. 

As to " the sudden grievous pause " in that revival, I cannot 
say whether the affair of which you speak was the cause ; but I 
do not think you have cause to write bitter things against your- 
self. Joshua, by his faith, could arrest the sun over Gideon 
during the space of an entire day, so that he had two days in 
one, in which to pursue his victory over the enemies of his God ; 
and by the same faith was the moon stayed in the valley of 
Ajalon ; but he could not stop a wicked Achan from coveting a 
wedge of gold, and a goodly Babylonish garment. He could not 
prevent the sinner hiding them beneath his tent, nor could he 
rally his dispirited troops to battle. For wickedness was in the 
camp; his mighty men of war fled and fell before their enemies, 
and the hearts of the people became as water. " Lord God," 
cried Joshua, " what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs 
before their enemies ! " 

It is difficult, perhaps impossible, to lay down rules as to how 
the Spirit of God may allow himself to be influenced by such 
cases of " backsliding or treachery," during a revival. A great 
work of God was advancing in majesty and power, in an Ameri- 



416 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

can city, some years ago. But, in the very midst of it, the min- 
ister of that church committed a horrible sin, and fled from the 
city, with the companion of his guilt. The servants of God, 
however, remained at their post, humbled themselves before 
God, held fast their confidence, and stood forth before the public 
the undaunted champions for Christ and his truth. Other min- 
isters came to the assistance of the weeping but fighting church ; 
and, notwithstanding the sneering contempt of the' ungodly, the 
revival continued to spread on the right hand and on the left, 
and many souls were added to the afflicted people of God. 

" If the teacher," says Cecil, " whom this man (a mere prose- 
lyte to truth) has chosen for his oracle, disgrace religion, by 
irreligious conduct, he stumbles. He stumbles, because he is 
not fixed upon the sole immovable basis of the religion of the 
Bible. The mind well instructed in the Scriptures can bear to 
see even its spiritual father make shipwreck of faith, and scan- 
dalize the Gospel; but will remain itself unmoved. The man is 
in the possession of a treasure, which, if others are foolish enough 
to abandon, yet they cannot detract anything from the value 
attached to it in his esteem." 

I knew a case, but not similar in all respects, which happened 
on my circuit several years ago, during a remarkable out-pouring 
of the Holy Spirit. At a certain period of the revival, an indi- 
vidual came to me, and confessed he had fallen from God. 1 
was, as it were, thunderstruck. He had been one of my most 
zealous men, praying and exhorting every night. Again and 
again, it appeared, he had left the house of God, and allowed 
himself to be carried captive by the devil at his will. He was 
now, however, enduring the agonies of a remorse which showed 
how deep and sincere was his repentance. But, during the 
times of these occurrences, the work never ceased, and the vilest 
sinners were converted to God. 

I believe, supposing penitents are sincere, that the Spirit of 
the Lord would come down and convert them, though surrounded 
by devils, or the most abominable of our race. Ordinarily, how- 
ever, we may suppose that defection, or positive wickedness, 
among professors of religion, will retard or extinguish a revival. 



HINTS TO MINISTERS. 417 

What you mention, I consider trying indeed. But, " What 
is that to thee, — follow thou me," says your Lord. Whatever 
other preachers may do, your duty and mine is plain, to bring 
as many sinners to God as we can. Who is accounted the best 
soldier on the field of battle? Surely, the man who uses his 
weapons in the most effective manner j he who makes the blood- 
iest work among the enemies of his country. Who is the ablest 
minister, the best soldier of Jesus Christ? He, surely, who 
wields to the best advantage " the weapons of his warfare," 
and who makes the greatest havoc among the servants of the 
devil, — the widest inroads upon the ranks of wickedness. In 
other words, he who obtains most seals to his ministry, — the 
most numerous company of souls for his hire. 

For an officer to recline in the shade, when the troops of Im- 
manuel are in the field of battle, is both mortifying and dis- 
couraging to the other officers and soldiers of Jesus Christ. 
Were a British officer to' do the like, under such circumstances, 
the rigors of martial law would disgrace him forever. There 
is a discipline quite as strict and severe in ImmanuePs army ; 
with this exception, that cowards, traitors, and deserters, are 
not, perhaps, so speedily dealt with. " Sentence against an 
evil work is not speedily executed," says an inspired writer. 
But to trifle with a revival, and turn into ridicule the efforts of 
the faithful and laborious servants of Christ, is a species of 
wickedness which is difficult to be tolerated, — quite as difficult, 
perhaps, as to touch the case with a soft and lenient hand. I 
have read of a philosopher, who, in a great tempest at sea, 
endeavored to amuse the passengers with many trinirig and 
impertinent questions, and was thus answered, according to his 
folly : "Are zee perishing, and dost thou trifle ? " Are sinners 
grieving the Holy Spirit, wearying the patience of God, disap- 
pointing the expectations of all heaven, and affording malignant 
triumph to all hell ? are believers and God's precious ministers 
weeping between the porch and the altar, crying, " Spare them, 
oh good Lord"? Are they casting themselves into the breach, 
and wrestling in mighty prayer, lifting up their voices like 
trumpets, at the risk of health and life, crying, — 



418 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

" Come, oh my guilty brethren, come, 
Groaning beneath your load of sin ; 
His bleeding heart shall make you room, 
His open side shall take you in : 
He calls you now, invites you home ; 
Come, oh my guilty brethren, come ! " 

Behold this, oh * * * #, and wilt thou trifle ? I rejoice that 
your spirit, my brother, is stirred within you. One of the 
fathers felt something similar when he exclaimed, "O that 
there were given unto me, from the altar above, not one coal, 
but a fiery globe, — a heap of coals to scorch the abuses of the 
times, and burn out the inveterate rust of vicious customs." 
This state of mind requires to be carefully guarded, lest it 
should degenerate into a fiery zeal. See to it that your own 
soul is a flame of love to God and man. Cry earnestly unto 
God for a baptism of fire, and of the Holy Ghost. Without 
this, you may preach "hell and damnation" as you please, but 
you will have little success among sinners. It is not by the ter- 
rors of the law of God, but by offers of mercy through the 
atonement, we are to win men. Not that you are to neglect 
the law ; it has its use, but beyond a certain point it cannot go. 
"As the flame in the bush," says a writer, " made the thorns visible 
without consuming them, so the fiery law discovers men's sins, 
but does not abolish them." "The whole," remember, "need 
not a physician, but they that are sick." Let sinners be wounded 
first, before you attempt to heal. Inattention to this is the great 
cause of inefficient preaching. Some men are all honey, all 
kindness and mercy; they expatiate most eloquently and inge- 
niously upon the nature and extent of the atonement, and the 
willingness of God to save sinners ; yet you hear of very few 
souls converted under their ministry. The Gospel, as they 
preach it, needs a Boanerges, or a John the Baptist, going before 
to prepare the way, crying, " O generation of vipers, who hath 
warned you to flee from the wrath to come ? Bring forth, 
therefore, fruits meet for repentance." When such a messenger 
has aroused the careless to a concern for their souls, or broken 
them down into repentance, and inflicted deep wounds in their 



HINTS TO MINISTERS. 419 

bleeding consciences, then these " kind and winning preach- 
ers " may have good success in the free and full declaration of 
the redeeming plan. He is, however, the ablest minister of the 
New Testament, who has that combination of talent within 
himself necessary for " breaking down and building up ; " such 
as was manifest in our Saviour's preaching, — " Ye serpents, ye 
generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell ? " 
" Wherefore, if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, 
and cast them from thee : it is better for thee to enter into life 
halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be 
cast into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck 
it out, and cast it from thee : it is better for thee to enter into 
life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into 
hell fire." " Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and 
cast him into outer darkness : there shall be weeping and gnash- 
ing of teeth." " Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy 
laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and 
learn of me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart ; and ye shall 
find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden 
is light." 

Preach, therefore, plainly and pointedly ; call things by their 
scriptural names. Be not afraid of the faces of the wicked ; 
make heavy thrusts at the conscience, — wield the terrors of 
hell, and lay around the sword of the law, and hew on all sides 
with a giant arm ; but preach Christ crucified, — lift him up 
upon the cross, bleeding, groaning, dying for sinners ; cry, 

" Jesus drinks the bitter cup, 
The wine-press treads alone ; 
Tears the graves and mountains up 
By his expiring groan. 

" O, my God, he dies for me ; 
I feel the mortal smart ! 
See him hanging on the tree, — 
A sight that breaks my heart ! 

,c O, that all to thee might turn ! 
Sinners, ye may love him too ; 
Look on him, ye pierced, and mourn 
For one who bled for vou ! " 



420 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

Preach thus, and sinners will not flee from you ; but they 
will be drawn towards and around you, as by an influence from 
heaven ; and Jesus shall see of the travail of his soul, and be 
satisfied. What saith your Lord? "And I, if I be lifted up 
from the earth, will draw all men unto me." 

But repeat the blow, again and again, night after night, week 
after week, till the wicked stagger and fall, because they can 
hold out no longer. " Sinners get the pores of their souls 
opened by an awakening sermon," said a good man, "but, going 
into the cold atmosphere of the world, they get a cold, which 
shuts all up again, and this frequently proves fatal." If you 
wish to avoid this, don't give them time to cool ; not a whole 
week, not two days, if you can help it. Come upon them again 
as soon as possible ; follow the Wow. They cannot stand up 
under such a Gospel hammer, when wielded systematically, 
uninterruptedly, and vigorously. Let your heart all the time 
be right with God. Have one single steady aim, to glorify God 
and save sinners. " When we want an arrow to go right 
home," says old Humphrey, "there is nothing like taking a 
single aim." This is what a good friend of mine calls " using 
a rifle-barrel instead of a scattering blunderbuss." Lay siege 
to the sinner, to every sinner, in this series of sermons. Thunder 
at the door of his heart ; but ofTer him mercy, through the blood 
of the Lamb. 

" When Popilius," says a writer, " by order of the Roman 
senate, required Antiochus to withdraw his army from the King 
of Egypt, and he desired time to deliberate, the haughty Roman 
drew a circle about him with his wand, and said, In hoc stans 
delibera, " Give a present answer before you move." This is 
the kind of preaching we want in the nineteenth century. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

MINISTERIAL CONFLICTS. 

What you say is perfectly correct. " Is not my word a hammer, 
saith the Lord, to break the rock in pieces ? " " But," adds an 
old divine, " it will never break the stony heart, if lightly laid 
on. What is preached coldly is heard carelessly." 

I dare not judge in the case of # * * * * *. A cold and 
languid manner may arise from various causes. Ill health, sore 
temptation, indifference of God's people, or smallness of the 
congregation, may for a season produce this, in a sensitive or 
nervous constitution ; but the individual may not have " back- 
slidden from God," in the proper sense of the term-, notwith- 
standing. I have known ministers get into this state, when 
they have not been in a revivalfor some months; in fact, I have 
myself, when so circumstanced, been frequently thus. When 
out of a revival for some time, I am apt to become, as to vigor 
in preaching, quite another man. Engaging in a revival has a 
remarkable tendency to invigorate the soul of a preacher, and to 
impart a keenness of edge, and a piercing point, to his preaching. 
Lessons upon the true method of preaching to sinners are 
learned during a revival, which are seldom or never to be 
obtained in the retirement of the study. 

During several years of my ministry, I have been compelled 
to retire from revival efforts, in the summer months, in conse- 
quence of the extreme heat peculiar to the American climate. 
I preached regularly, of course, to my people on the Sabbath, 
and attended to my pastoral visitations ; but was unable to go 
on with special services, such as I am engaged in at present. 
My ministrations, during such seasons, were often feeble, and 
my mind not unfrequently drawn to what may be termed a 
36 



422 REYIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

speculative theology. I have now before me a whole pile of 
manuscript sermons, written during such intervals : but they are 
quite useless to me in this revival tour ; in fact, were I to preach 
them to my present congregations, they would soon put an end 
to the revival. Not that they are erroneous, but they do not 
contain that class of truth which is adapted to promote a revival 
in actual operation. 

My revival campaigns in America began usually in the 
autumn, and were continued until April or May. Hostilities 
against the devil's kingdom had no sooner commenced in good 
earnest, than the style of my preaching underwent a marked 
change. New energies seemed to be infused into my soul and 
body, with a large increase of spirituality of mind, with a clearer 
evidence of holiness, and a proportionate augmentation of con- 
scious happiness. My health, too, has always improved on 
these occasions; so that, in reference to physical as well as 
intellectual strength, many times I have been led to exclaim, "I 
am a new man ! " 

You will not, I hope, understand me, that I totally neglected 
to warn sinners to flee from the wrath to come, during summer. 
Not so ; my preaching sometimes manifested considerable energy 
and point ; and now and again, sinners got awakened and con- 
verted. But not being able to follow the blow, sinners, after a 
few weeks, got hard, and fortified themselves against feeling the 
power of truth ; and this discouraged and weakened me. Neither 
would sinners hear those alarming and tremendous appeals in 
my ordinary ministry, that were often witnessed, and by which 
frequently whole ranks were mowed down, during an extraordi- 
nary and long-continued conflict. In these " special services " 
unconverted people expect to hear terrible things, as a matter of 
course. It is distinctly understood, " designs are on foot against 
them ; " that nothing less is intended than to make them the 
prisoners of the Lord. A fearful catastrophe this to the carnal 
mind ! The line of demarcation has been drawn between the 
world and the church ; and so clearly, too, that if an alien to the 
commonwealth of Israel has mistaken his ground, " he soon finds 
the place too hot for him," and must either be tormented like a 
devil, or surrender to the truth, or retreat among the enemies of 



MINISTERIAL CONFLICTS. 423 

the Lord. " The sinners in Zion are afraid ; fearfulness hath 
surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the 
devouring fire ? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting 
burning ? " Isaiah 33 : 14. The minister now occupies inde- 
pendent ground. The devil's children have little time for mutiny 
against his ministry. The servant of God does not allow them 
half a week to criticize his sermon, nor to band together to leave 
him empty seats on the coming Sabbath. One sermon, when 
taken apart from the rest, may have many hard and unbearable 
things in it; but, before they can well enter their protest in 
behalf of their fellow-sinners, whom they consider " outraged," 
two or three of a similar character follow it, and with such 
" stunning power " that they are thrown into confusion, and 
know not what to do. Five come to the house of God, where one 
stays away. Reports of all kinds are afloat, and those who con- 
cluded not to go again are impelled by curiosity, or by a secret 
uneasiness, to mingle with the multitudes on their way to hear 
the truth. To their surprise, the chapel is as full as ever ; and, 
notwithstanding all the ridicule they have heaped upon the 
preacher, they discover his popularity to be above and beyond 
their control. The minister has thrown down the gauntlet of 
defiance against the devil and his children. The faith and 
expectation of God's people are rapidly ascending to a climax, 
and a glorious victory. There is now no beating of the air with 
idle words. Nor is there anything like trimming between sin- 
ner and Christians, so as to please both in the sermon ; no 
mincing of the truth ; no fear of offending; the truth, the whole 
truth, nothing but the naked scorching truth, in all its tremen- 
dous power, is thrown into the ranks of wickedness, like balls of 
fire ; and with a physical and intellectual energy that amazes 
the man of God himself, while it strikes terror and universal 
consternation throughout the hosts of the ungodly. This is not 
a " fancy sketch." I have seen it thus often, when the slain and 
the healed of the Lord have been very many. This is the reason 
why the Methodist Episcopal Church, in one year, receives her 
one hundred thousand converts; and why she has arisen; during 
the last twenty years, from three hundred and twenty-eight thou- 



424 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

sand five hundred and twenty-three members, to about one 
million one hundred and fifty thousand members;^ — showing 
an increase of upwards of eight hundred thousand during those 
twenty years ! 

I repeat it again : in one revival of religion, a man will learn 
better how to preach the truths of Christianity in such a manner 
as will awaken and convert men, than he could in many years' 
close study in connection with his ordinary ministry. Hard- 
hearted and impenitent sinners are to be broken down into 
repentance. This may require heavier metal than he has in his 
collection of sermons. Victory or defeat are two tremendous 
words to a minister thus circumstanced ; they have cast me down 
upon the floor, in agony and tears, crying, " Who is sufficient 
for these things ? " He is now thrown upon his own resources, 
though trusting firmly upon the power of the mighty God of 
Jacob. His mind is now tasked to the utmost, and his genius 
too. " Necessity is the mother of invention." New ideas are 
created in his mind ; new methods of illustrating and applying 
truth, suitable to the exigencies of the case, spring up before his 
imagination. He cries to God for the holy unction without 
which all his efforts will be weak as helpless infancy, and all the 
thunder of his arguments but as the chirping of a grasshopper. 
He knows it; and, with a certain minister, he says, "O Lord 
God of hosts ! out of my study and into that pulpit I will not go, 
unless thou engage to go with me." He prevails : " My presence 
shall go with thee ! " " Enough, Lord ! " He enters the pulpit ; 
his soul is a flame, " and longs its glorious matter to declare." 
And what shall I say ? His words go blazing from his lips, and 
fall like heaven's own fire upon the hearts and consciences of 
multitudes. Lo ! the power of God descends in dreadful grandeur 
upon the whole assembly ; sinners are struck with remorse ; new 
inroads are made in their ranks, and many are converted to God. 
The servant of God, too, has obtained a new sermon, which, by the 
assistance of the Holy Ghost, may produce similar effects upon 
other congregations. 

* The number of Methodists in the United States at present (1851) is 
1,312,295, of which the M. E. Church has 720,471 ; — the M. E. Church 
Bnntfc koi.boi.— other branches, 90,313. —Ed. 



MINISTERIAL CONFLICTS, 425 

There is now a revival ; and multitudes, if they are followed 
up with such a sharp and piercing- ministry, will never rest, until 
they find peace through faith in the blood of the Lamb. The 
services are continued several weeks or months, now that it is 
clearly evident to all beholders that the grand design of a 
preached Gospel is being accomplished. Gospel truth is now 
producing its distinct and positive effects, — effects which should 
gladden every Christian's soul, and which cause that minister's 
heart to dance for joy. 

This, my dear sir, is the kind of preaching the world needs in 
the nineteenth century. Sinners are to be awakened, penitents 
brought to God, and new converts built up in their most holy 
faith. " And who is sufficient for these things ? " He who 
desires to save souls from death must understand how to adapt 
and wield the truth so as to produce an immediate effect. It is 
not enough that it is practical ; it must be effectual. It will not 
do to lay down the truth, and leave it there, either to succeed or 
fail. No ! After truth in all its bearings, truth in every aspect 
and in all its lustre, has been radiating over that mass of mind, 
the faithful minister must come down from the pulpit, invite 
those who are seeking pardon and holiness to come forward, in 
order to be prayed with and instructed. Now that the local 
preachers and leaders have plenty of work to do with those who 
have bowed for prayer, let him go from pew to pew, persuading 
others to go and do likewise. " But," you are ready to say, " he 
will shorten his days by such tremendous efforts." Be it so. 
God will raise up others. Better accomplish a great work in a 
short time, than live many years and do little, perhaps, for his 
generation. 

No man can estimate how much he may do for God, without 
injury to himself, if he is prudent, and fully baptized with the 
Holy Ghost. Let him exercise the habit of self-control, avoid 
screaming and unnecessary wasting of his strength in loud sing- 
ing ; let him wield the talent of the church, by bringing forward in 
the prayer-meetings able and vigorous leaders and local preachers. 
These men of God may be qualified, both by gifts and grace, to 
pray quite as well as he can himself; they have good voices 
36* 



426 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

physical and intellectual strength", and a good understanding in 
the things of God. But they want one to lead them forth to 
war and victory. Let him do this, but avoid attempting to do 
everything himself; let others share with him the glorious toil, 
and his health may be as good at the close of such a campaign 
as at the beginning. 

In a revival, a preacher studies mind, — mind at rest, and 
mind in motion ; human nature unawakened, and awakened ; in 
its sin-sickness, and in the enjoyment of a perfect Gospel cure. 
He is now a curate indeed ; and he learns what truths are most 
suitable to mind in all these cases ; the proper truth has been 
administered, and, like a great philosopher experimenting upon 
nature, he beholds the effects with joy, and by the results, in 
the experience of fifty or one hundred cases, he calculates with 
great certainty the effects upon thousands more, who are yet to 
be brought under its searching and saving power. This increases 
his faith and confidence in the truths of the Gospel. The revival 
affords him the same privilege as is enjoyed by a physician. 
He stands by his patient, administers to his sin-sick soul the 
medicine of the Gospel, and has an equal opportunity of observ- 
ing its effects. Again and again he enters the pulpit, with 
fresh views of the state of his patients. He will illustrate, 
compound, enforce or soften the truth, as the different states of 
the people require, and with a tenderness of heart, manner, and 
power, surprising even to himself. He is no longer a mere 
speculating, theorizing preacher. New gifts have descended 
upon him from above ; which he may never entirely lose, — 
nay, may increase continually, so long as he appropriates, at 
least, a part of each year for such extraordinary efforts. In the 
mean time, his power and influence with the people of God, and, 
indeed, with the entire congregation, advance daily. His prayers, 
sermons, and general character, are invested, in their estima- 
tion, with such a moral grandeur and power as will be almost 
irresistible, and by which he may speak the most unpalatable 
truth. Thus, by means of the honor put upon him by the Lord 
uf hosts, if his eye be single, with the help of the Holy Spirit, 



MINISTERIAL CONFLICTS. 427 

he may bear down all opposition, and carry everything before 
him in the conversion of sinners. 

During the progress of a revival, if he is a careful observer 
of human nature, he may accumulate a mass of revival mate- 
rials; — that class of truth which is illustrated by facts, and 
which will be most suitable and effectual in bringing about a 
revival, or promoting one where it has already commenced ; and 
by which, if he continue to walk closely with God, he may 
arrive at such a point in his pulpit preparation, that, aided by 
an influence from heaven, sinners may not be able to stand 
before him all the days of his life. Thus he may become the 
instrument of the conversion of thousands and tens of thousands 
of immortal souls, who shall be the crown of his rejoicing in 
the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Every minister of Jesus should aim at such results. How 
can he rest satisfied without the conversion of sinners, when 
the means are within his grasp by which such a glorious event 
may be effected ? Who wants to " fight windmills," or " fight 
as one beating the air" ? Any preacher of the Gospel, w T ho has 
been called of God to the work (and if he have not been so 
called, better that he were earning an honest livelihood by 
breaking stones by the highway side), may be successful, if he 
will, in thus winning souls to Jesus Christ. 

It is a sad event in the history of any church, when the pas- 
tor says, " I have no talent for this kind of work." And pray, 
what has God sent the poor man into the church to do ? What 
object had he in view on entering the ministry ? But perhaps 
he has a secret desire to be such a successful instrument in 
bringing sinners to God. It may be that he is coveting ear- 
nestly the best gifts ; such as the church of God needs in the 
nineteenth century ; — an age of commercial and scientific 
enterprise, of general and universal speculation, and excitement 
to money-making, such as the world has not seen, I believe, 
since the days of the apostles. The church wants a ministry 
of strength and power, — men having one desire and one aim, — 
men capable of bringing the claims of eternity before the con- 
sciences of their hearers, and with such a vividness as will 



428 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

neutralize the all-absorbing interests of time ; so as to " stem 
the domineering influence of things seen," as Dr. Chalmers 
expresses it, " and to invest faith with a practical supremacy, to 
give its objects such a vivacity of influence as shall overpower 
the near and the hourly impressions that are ever emanating 
upon man from a seducing world." 

Show me a minister who is panting for the necessary qual ifi- 
c&tiin for turning many sinners to righteousness, and I would 
say to him, fast and pray, and weep before the Lord, till that 
Spirit whose office it is to bestow spiritual gifts upon men, 
especially to those who are coveting earnestly the best gifts, 
shall descend upon your soul in a baptism of fire, filling the 
heart with that perfect love which casteth out all fear. A 
yearning pity for lost sinners will then take possession of his 
heart, and God will open him a door that no man can shut. 
Regardless of what man may say, or do, and only intent upon 
one thing, — the conversion of sinners, — he will very soon see a 
revival that will strike terror to the hearts of devils and men, 
and send a tide of joy throughout the innumerable legions of 
heaven. 

"My talents, gifts, and graces, Lord, 

Into thy gracious hands receive, 

And let me live to preach thy word, 

And let me to thy glory live, 

My every sacred moment spend 

In publishing the sinner's Friend. 

" I would the precious time redeem, 
And longer live for this alone ; 
To spend and to be spent for them 
Who have not yet my Saviour known, 
Fully on these my mission prove, 
And only breathe to breathe thy love." 

There have been few ministers of the Lord Jesus who have 
been really called of God to preach, but who have unfortunately 
neglected to cultivate the " revival spirit" who have not, in 
some way, been compelled to the utterance of regret on their 
death-bed. " I have," said a celebrated Archbishop of the 
Church of England, " passed through many places of honor 



MINISTERIAL CONFLICTS. 429 

and trust, both in church and state ; more than any man of my 
order in England, for seventy years. But were I assured that 
by my preaching I had converted one soul unto God, I should 
herein take more comfort than in all the offices that have ever 
been bestowed upon me." " My brother," said another to an 
active minister, " to have one poor sinner to own thee in the 
day of judgment, as an instrument in God's hands of plucking 
him as a brand from the burning, will be a greater comfort to 
thy glorified spirit, in the day of the Lord, than if thou hadst 
been the greatest orator that ever engaged the attention of an 
audience." 

A certain minister, during his last hours, was greatly dejected 
on account of his want of success during his ministry, which 
seemed to plant thorns in his dying pillow. Before he departed, 
however, a person came in and informed him that two persons 
had voluntarily made themselves known as having been con- 
verted to God by his labors. His countenance immediately 
brightened, and gathering up his feet, he said, with Simeon, 
" Now, Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according 
to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." Nor is 
this feeling to be wondered at, if we consider how vividly such 
an one must realize the glorious character of that declaration 
of the prophet Daniel : " And they that be wise shall shine as 
the brightness of the firmament ; and they that turn many to 
righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." 

Is he not the wisest minister, then, who takes upon himself 
the character of a revivalist in early life ? And what else does 
the term imply, than to be a soul-saver ; or, as in the case of 
Elijah, a converter? — a term of reproach among some, we 
allow; and so was "a Methodist" at the beginning; but we 
know the benefits of Methodism too well to love it any the less 
on that account. Observe ; the passage I have quoted does not 
say, They that are learned and eloquent preachers, who have 
drawn immense crowds to hear them, and who have won for 
themselves an honorable standing among their brethren, and a 
high position in ecclesiastical authority, on account of high intel- 
lectual powers, and statesman-like talents, shall shine as the 



430 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

stars for ever and ever. No ; but " they that turn many to right- 
eousness." 

If the knowledge of having been instrumental in the conver- 
sion of two souls has been a source of so much comfort to a 
dying minister, how unspeakable the delight, in the closing hour 
of one's life, to know of scores, hundreds, thousands ! " 0," 
exclaimed the great and good Dr. Payson, a few hours before he 
went to heaven, " O, if ministers only saw the inconceivable 
glory that is before them, and the preciousness of Christ, they 
would not be able to refrain from going about, leaping and clap- 
ping their hands for joy, and exclaiming, ' I 'm a minister of 
Christ ! I 'm a minister of Christ ! ' " 

It rejoices my heart, that many of the churches of Christen- 
dom are awaking, as out of a deep sleep, to the importance of 
securing to themselves a soul-saving ministry. And, it would 
appear, they are beginning at the right point ; not with a violent 
attempt to remodel those ministers whose habits, with regard to 
preaching, have been long formed, and whose sermons have 
become so stereotyped in their memory as to leave but little 
room for any new ideas or plans for the salvation of sinners, 
but in the proper training of their student candidates for the 
ministry. I was delighted, the other day, with the following, 
from a very able pen : 

" Circumstances are now beginning to call the attention of the 
churches to their students. It is well. For how can any church 
expect a race of godly ministers to arise out of students whom 
she had utterly neglected, over whom she had never watched 
nor prayed ? . . . . The demand for laborers has, on the 
one hand, called us to consider how these may be obtained, and, 
on the other, led us to inquire anew into the whole subject of 
their previous training for the ministry of the Gospel, and the 
feeding of the church of God, which he hath purchased with his 
own blood. The first question, no doubt, was, How shall we get 
ministers ? But this, after all, is not the main one. With any 
true church of Christ, the main question is not, How are we to 
get men, but how are we to get living men ? How are we to 
secure a race of living ministers, pastors after God's own heart, 



MINISTERIAL CONFLICTS. 431 

who will warn the wicked, and watch over the blood-bought 
heritage ? 

" It is not the getting of men that is the question now. Nor 
is it, ' How may we best secure that they shall be learned, able, 
eloquent, polished, educated men ? ' No ; these may be very 
needful points ; but they are of the second grade. They are not 
the essentials ; they are not indispensable. They ought not to 
be overlooked by any church, but care ought to be taken that 
they shall only occupy the second, and not the first place, in the 
training of our youth. They have too long been treated as para- 
mount; .... they have too long been held in undue esti- 
mation by the people of God. Hence the wisdom of man's words 
has often made the cross of Christ of none effect. Hence the* 
taste and passion for eloquence, pulpit eloquence, have vitiated 
the simplicity of our taste, and destroyed the relish for ungar- 
nished truth, and mightily contributed to hinder the simple and 
natural preaching of the everlasting Gospel. . . . 

" We do rejoice that the question regarding ministerial char- 
acter and qualification has at length found its way into a higher 
region, and is to be treated on higher principles, and as embrac- 
ing more spiritual elements than it has hitherto done among too 
many even of the reformed churches of Christendom. We 
rejoice that our circumstances have at length brought us to this. 
It is high time that it should be so. We have long enough 
occupied worldly and secular ground in this matter, and weighed 
ministers in the balances of earthly literature, or science, or elo- 
quence. We have long enough treated our students as mere 
aspirants to literary fame, instead of being those to whom we 
were to commit the weightiest charge, and the most solemn 
responsibility, which can devolve upon either man or angel. 
When the question is put, ' Who is sufficient for these things ? ' 
it is high time to answer it as the Lord himself teaches us, ' My 
grace is sufficient.' We have often, in time past, said that learn- 
ing, and talent, and eloquence, were enough to make a man suf- 
ficient. Right glad are we that this time is gone by, and that a 
different standard and different balances are coming into use, — 
the standard of the apostles, the balances of the sanctuary. Right 



432 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

glad are we that we have more fully been led to see that noth- 
ing but living men, men of God, men full of the Holy Ghost and 
of faith, can be ministers in the church of Christ. Our circum- 
stances, we say, have forced this point upon our notice, and com- 
pelled us more fully and solemnly to ponder the question, How 
may we obtain a supply of faithful pastors ? Perhaps to some 
it may seem unwise to take up this point too hastily, or act upon 
it too strictly. It may seem that our circumstances call on us 
to widen the door, instead of contracting it, when there is such 
a demand for laborers, and such an abundant harvest whitening 
over the breadth of the land. But it must be obvious, that, if 
we are to gain ground, or maintain our footing, merely by reason 
of the popularity, or talent, or eloquence of our preachers, the 
hold we shall have of the people will not only be of a worldly 
and unspiritual kind, but of the most precarious nature. No, 
eloquence and learning will not avail us. They cannot lay the 
foundation deep enough. They may attract more, win more, 
bring about a larger amount of apparent adherence to our cause. 
But that is all. Our prosperity must have something far deeper 
and broader for its base. It must be laid in the conversion of 
souls. Any foundation less deep than this must be too shallow, 
too superficial, too crumbling, to withstand the coming flood, the 
first waves of which are already beginning to ripple round our 
embankments. 

"It is to this that our circumstances are leading us. And we 
trust that no earthly, short-sighted, unscriptural desire of merely 
swelling our numbers, will draw us away from this. It is God's 
finger that is pointing us to this, and too intelligibly to be mis- 
taken. What have the revivals of the last five years been doing 
for us ? Have they not been laying a deep foundation for the 
church in the time of trouble ? And have they not been teach- 
ing us that our strength and security must lie in the number of 
souls converted to Christ, and not merely in the number of 
adherents to our cause ? Is not that their meaning ? We fear 
that they have been too little regarded in this light. We have 
looked on and wondered. We have been interested, and per- 
haps have rejoiced in the tidings concerning them. But this 



MINISTERIAL CONFLICTS. 433 

was all. We overlooked the mighty lesson which God was 
seeking to teach us by such living and legible examples. It was 
not merely to gather in a people for himself that God has been 
doing such great things for us. It was not merely to prepare a 
remnant for the days of trial into which the church was passing, 
that there might be some, at least, who would not turn back in 
the day of battle, but would be ready to go, for Christ's sake, to 
prison and to death. It was not merely to train and discipline 
a noble band of warriors for the church's welfare, — men to pray, 
as well as to contend for victory. It was also to show us of 
what men he wished his church to be composed ; what ministers 
he desired to see in our churches ; and what preachers of the 
Gospel it was that he would bless. Have these revivals not 
taught us these things ? And shall we not learn from them that 
our stability and prosperity must ever lie in the number of sin- 
ners converted, of living saints within the walls of Zion ? Shall 
we not learn from them that it is the ministry of living, praying 
ministers that he blesses ? Shall we not learn that it is not elo- 
quence, or ability, or human wisdom, that are mighty in the 
pulling down of Satan's strongholds, but prayer and simplicity, 
devotedness and perseverance, the naked word of God, the simple 
preaching of the free Gospel of the grace of God? It is thus 
that the word runs and is glorified. It is thus that souls are 
converted. It is thus that the ministry is honored and blessed. 
It is thus that the church is built up, even in stirring times. Has 
not God been teaching us these things? And shall we, in 
maturing our plans, and constructing our different schemes, over- 
look so distinct a leading of God, or turn away with indifference 
from a lesson so important, so essential ? 

" But here, perhaps, a glance at the past may not be unprofit- 
able, nor out of place. We read the annals of the seventeenth 
and eighteenth centuries, and gaze with eager joy upon the 
career of glorious success afforded to those instruments which 
God then raised up as his chosen witnesses. Whence, then, 
arose the success of these apostolic men, and wherein did their 
great strength lie ? It is with the spirit of the men, more than 
of their works, that we are to be imbued, if we are emulous of 
37 



434 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

a ministry as powerful, as victorious, as theirs. It is not the cold 
marble of the statue that we are to make our model, however 
perfect in its symmetry and polish ; it is the breathing form of 
man, the living person. The marble is but the cold outline, the 
material resemblance, incapable of reproducing itself, or im- 
printing its lineaments on surrounding objects, or transfusing 
any secret qualities and virtues into the most ravished beholder. 

" If this be true of the servants, much more is it of the Mas- 
ter. If the study of their characters be so profitable, much more 
must be the contemplation of his. If personal contact with them 
be so fitted to mould us into their likeness, how much more 
must personal contact and communion with him be fitted to 
fashion us anew after his resemblance ? And being thus trans- 
formed into the Master's likeness, how certain to be blest in our 
labors, to be successful in our ministry ! 

" In these troublous times, and with the prospect of confusion 
and harassment before us, it is hard to maintain this intercourse. 
Nay, it seems impossible. Time and solitude are a-wanting. 
Nevertheless it must be so. In the case of the apostles it was 
so, in spite of all their endless tribulations and tossings. In the 
case of "our own fathers it was so, in spite of their multiplied 
labors and hardships. It must be so with us; and, doubtless, it 
will be so. The tumult of the storm will make the solitude of 
the closet doubly welcome. Man's wrath and enmity will ren- 
der doubly precious the love and friendship of the Saviour. 
Then there shall be in the world a ministry of power, and times 
of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, — a precious earnest 
of the times of refreshing at his appearing and his king- 
dom." 

I can say, as did the Rev. John Brown, on his death-bed, to his 
sons in the ministry : " Whenever the Lord has led me out to be 
most diligent in this way, he has poured most comfort into my 
heart, and given me my reward in my bosom." " O labor, labor to 
win souls to Christ," was his language in the same conversation ; 
adding the words of his Lord : " Work while it is day, for the 
night cometh when no man can work." This is your " harvest- 
time," my brother. The fields around you are " white already ;" 



MINISTERIAL CONFLICTS. 435 

put in the sickle and reap fruit unto life eternal. Let not " an 
oppressive sense " of the " inferiority " of your talents discour- 
age you. Have you never observed the variety of talent evident 
among the reapers in the harvest-field ? Some there are who 
can impart to their sickles a noble sweep, and the grain is 
grasped and levelled with a sort of commanding and solemn 
majesty. But there are others who, perhaps, having neither 
mental nor physical ability for such a grasp, " make up for it '' 
by the quickness of their motions. Their nimble reaping-hooks 
make two or three strokes for one of their competitors, and thus 
they keep pace with, or "go a-head" of, their more talented 
companions. I know an individual who is as bold and active 
for God as if conscious he possessed the first talents of the 
land ; yet none can be more sensible of the mediocrity of his 
abilities, when compared with other ministers of Jesus Christ. 
More than once I have heard him modestly apologize for the 
frequency of his attempts to do good, by adverting to the advice 
given by a Spartan mother to her son, who was going forth with 
the army to the wars. " Mother," said the lad, " my sword is 
too short." The reply of the mother was, "Add a step to it, my 
boy." A sentiment which one would expect from a* Spartan 
mother, but it required a Spartan boy to hear it ; one who had 
been taught to carry out the advice, or never return alive. Let 
the conviction, then, of the defectiveness of your talent impel 
you forward to increased diligence in your holy calling. " Add 
a step," my brother; nay, if possible, take five steps for one 
taken by your superiors, — five sermons for their one, — and you 
may do more for God, and have a brighter crown, than the man 
who has ten talents. 

There can be no doubt you were, at the time you mention, 
on the verge of a glorious revival ; nor am I much surprised, at 
what you justly consider a " mortifying failure." If we will not 
do God's work in his time, but perform our own work first, it is 
presumption to expect his blessing, either on his or our own 
work. When the Israelites disbelieved the report of the spies, 
despised the promise of God, and murmured against Moses and 
Aaron, they were ordered back again into the wilderness. A 



436 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

plague also went out from the Lord, and slew the spies who 
had brought up an evil report upon the land of promise. The 
children of Israel, upon beholding the displeasure of God, 
" mourned greatly," and early in the morning they were upon 
the top of the mountain, saying, " Lo ! we be here, and will go 
up unto the place which the Lord hath promised ; for we have 
sinned." Moses told them not to go, "For the Lord is not 
among you ; — it shall not prosper. Ye are turned away from 
the Lord ; therefore, the Lord will not be with you." And so 
it was ; they gave battle, but God was not in their camp, and 
many of them were slaughtered by the hands of the Amalek- 
ites and Canaanites. They attended to the suggestions of their 
carnal hearts, and would not obey in the accepted time ; but, 
repenting of their doings, they determined to meet their ene- 
mies upon the strength of commands and promises which had 
been annulled and forfeited. Their time, you have seen, was 
not God's time; therefore they were thrown into confusion, and 
discomfited by the enemies of the Lord and of Israel. There 
is a lesson here, but I must leave it with yourself to make the 
application, — only, I may add the following remarks of the 
judicious Bates : " There are two branches of folly visible in 
the world ; men will not do when they can, and afterwards 
cannot when they would." 

When the breeze is brisk and fair, will the captain who has 
long been waiting for such a propitious event permit his crew 
to while away their time on deck, and himself go and lounge 
in the cabin among his books and papers ? If so, and the wind 
should change, so as to detain him in port for weeks to come, 
there would be few to pity him. But, no ; master and men are 
tin the alert, — the anchor is weighed, — the sails are unfurled, — 



They hearty wave 



Their last adieu, and, loosening every sheet, 
Resign the spreading vessel to the wind ! " 

But it often happens that the children of this world are wiser 
in their generation than the children of light. 

We are the servants of God, and we must not think he will 



MINISTERIAL CONFLICTS. 437 

excuse us from doing his work, when the evidences of a revival 
having commenced are convincing, because we have much of 
our own to attend to. This remark will apply to local preachers 
and class leaders, as well as to ministers, — I mean, as it regards 
their cooperation with the Holy Spirit, when he comes down to 
revive his work. Suppose that you had a servant, and he should 
neglect your business, and, when pressed for his reasons, should 
excuse himself on account of having so much of his own to 
manage ; — what would you do ? "I would discharge him at 
once ! " Doubtless you would ; and who could blame you ? 

Has not something like this happened to not a few in 

since the occurrence ? Have not some backslidden both from 
work and wages, while others have been singularly laid aside ? 
Are there not others, who might do good, but who are standing 
idle in the Lord's vineyard, having apparently neither the will 
nor power to work; while a few are doing something, "feebly," 
but the "fruits are hidden"? Now, the disapprobation of the 

Lord is not always expressed thus, as in ; but where the 

call of God to enter into a revival effort has been plain, and 
neglected through love of money, pleasure, or idleness, there is, 
usually, a barrenness among the people, and a humiliating want 
of success in the " ordinary means" 

You inquire, " But are there not frequent intervals of a pain- 
ful character, between one revival and another, in some of your 
American societies ?" Yes. "If so, what are the usual causes ?" 
They are various; but I have known instances, where we could 
assign no other reason than the unbelief and impenitency of 
sinners. In most, however, the causes were very evident to all 
who had the work of God at heart. Love of ease, money, 
pleasure, honor, among professors of religion, rather than an 
ardent and laborious desire for the conversion of perishing sin- 
ners. A self-indulgent and indolent spirit ; a decrease or loss 
of holiness, humility, and dependence upon God, on the part of 
the official members of the church, — local preachers, class- 
leaders, and prayer-leaders. And last, though not least, the 
absence of the revival spirit and zeal from the hearts of the 
ministers, who, in some instances, have preferred ease and books 
37* 



438 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

to soul-saving ; — the splendor of pulpit eloquence, which drew 
the admiration of the wicked, rather than the plain, pointed ser- 
mon, and the direct aim at the consciences of the ungodly ; — 
the neglect of visiting from house to house, and vigorous efforts 
in the prayer-meeting, after preaching, for the conversion of 
penitents ; — all of which are absolutely necessary to the com- 
mencement and continuation of a revival. 

Some societies owe such painful pauses to laxity of disci- 
pline, — allowing backsliders and hypocrites to remain in church 
fellowship, — winking at the neglect of class-meetings, and 
other means of grace. " The wealthy are necessary to us ; — 
numbers are creditable to us. If we expel Mr. =* =* * , and 
Mrs. * * * , and * * * , they will leave our congregation, 
and attend the preaching of a minister of another denomina- 
tion." Thus the Spirit of God is grieved, and no revival is 
obtained ; while other branches of the same church are favored 
again and again with gracious outpourings of the Holy Spirit. 

" In case of the long absence of a revival, when the fault has 
not been in the church, or when she has repented, and is every- 
thing God would have her be, in order to a revival, what do 
you suppose is the prevalent state of feeling among the mem- 
bers?" I cannot give you a better answer than the following 
extract from a letter, written by one of our ministers, for the 
revival department of the New York Christian Advocate and 
Journal, previous to my leaving America for Europe : "We are 
obediently waiting, anxiously looking, fervently praying, confi- 
dently hoping, and every day living, for a revival of the work 
of God in our charge." Nor is it likely they remained long in 
such a state of preparation, without an ingathering of converted 
souls to their ranks. 

Take the following account of another revival : " The friends 
of the Redeemer will everywhere rejoice, that Lexington has 
been visited by the Lord in mercy, — so lately the scene of 
judgment, sickness, death. Still, of thousands, it may be well 
said : — 

1 Mercies and judgments have alike been slighted.' 



MINISTERIAL CONFLICTS. 439 

■ Commencement. Christians began to mourn over their cold- 
ness, and the lost condition of others. They wept together, 
1 confessed their sins one to another,' and resolved to ' work for 
God.' 

" Means used. Those who loved Christ prayed all the time ; 
labored all the time ; and all the time felt that, unless the Spirit 
were poured out upon saint and sinner, not one soul would be 
converted. 

" They offered constant, special, earnest, agonizing, unit- 
ed prayer. While they prayed, they labored, conversed with 
their friends, persuaded them to come to the house of God, and 
in several instances prayed with them hour after hour, until 
they gave themselves to the Saviour. Frequently they prayed 
till midnight; — and, after all, they sung and prayed, and felt, 
' Lord, revive us ! — all our help must come from thee.'' 

" Preaching. In doctrine, plain ; in illustration, powerful. 

" Arguments. The shortness of time ; the certainty of death ; 
the danger of delay; and, above all, the goodness of God, and 
the love of the Saviour. 

"Results. God has been glorified, the church enlarged, and 
dying sinners persuaded to set out for heaven. To the two 
Presbyterian churches in Lexington, about one hundred and 
fifty have been added. To the Methodist church, about one 
hundred and thirty have been added. 

"Prospects. Everything around says to the Christian, 'Work 
on ! ' — and the Christian sings, 

' Fight on, my soul ! till death 
Shall bring thee to thy God.' 

" Can these prospects be blighted ? Yes. How ? If Chris- 
tians ' come down from the work,' by ceasing to pray, ceasing to 
labor, ceasing to feel for perishing sinners ; ceasing to hold up 
their ministers' hands ; finding fault with preachers ; harboring 
unkind feelings ; talking about one another. If these things be 
done, the Spirit will be grieved, the work will decline, and those 
who were just on the verge of heaven, — almost persuaded to be 
Christians, — will go down to death ; — and, of some who pro- 



440 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

fessed to love the Saviour, it may be said, at the last day, ■ Ye 
went not in yourselves, neither suffered them who were enter- 
ing to go in ; depart from me, unfaithful servants.' That we 
may not thus act, we earnestly request every friend of Jesus 
Christ who reads this to pray for Lexington." 

I have read of a country, situated near the Pole, where the 
night endures many months together. When the inhabitants 
expect the sun, they ascend a very high mountain, and from its 
top wait his appearing, striving who shall first see the orb of 
day. No sooner do they see him ascend the horizon, than they 
embrace each other, exclaiming, Ecce, sol apparet ! "Behold, 
the sun appeareth ! " Show me a church standing thus together 
upon the mountain-top of faith and holiness, waiting for and 
expecting a revival every hour, and laboring for it, like the above 
churches in Lexington, and I will dare to say they shall soon 
cry, Ecce, sol apparet! Behold the Sun of Righteousness 
appears, with healing on his wings ! 

To the other points I can only refer briefly. It certainly is 
difficult to account for the movements of some men, — in many 
respects good men, — unless we attribute their conduct to strong 
temptation. I should think the influence from heaven was so 
powerful, and the scenes so remarkable and striking, at the time in 
question, that any mind, unless fearfully warped by some bad and 
powerful prejudices, would have been compelled to acknowledge 
" the finger of God." 

There was a revival going on in a certain city. Much was 
said for and against it. The agitation spread far and wide. A 
clergyman of the Established Church came to hear and see for 
himself. He spent several hours as a serious spectator, and 
before departing, candidly remarked, " This is the work of God ; 
I see and very plainly feel it is. There must be something of 
this in every person, in passing from death to life, either in 
public or in private." It depends a great deal, in many instances, 
whether the revival has begun, and is carried forward, under 
some men's ministry, as to whether they will unite with it, or 
countenance the movement. If they are not acknowledged the 
first movers and main-springs in the revival, they will have 






MINISTERIAL CONFLICTS. 441 

nothing to do with it. Thank God, I charitably hope such cases 
are not numerous. I have met with but few such, in my revival 
efforts; — I mean among the ministry; — and even in other 
denominations, I have met with many honorable exceptions. 
How refreshing is the following instance! During a great 
revival of religion in the north of Ireland, many years ago, in 
the early days of Methodism, a prelate of the Established Church 
said to one of the vigorous instruments of the revival, " It would 
break my heart if that successful ministry in the north were 
.nterrupted and marred. They think to cause me to stretch out 
my hand against you, but all the world shall never move me to 
do so." These present noble exceptions to a habit that is too 
prevalent among a class of men who should be the last to oppose 
a work of God. As to the case in hand, I cannot determine ; 
God is judge ; and he standeth at the door. If it be as some 
suppose, it is a hateful disposition. "Aldus Gellius used to 
wonder," says a writer, " how two such elegant and magnanimous 
philosophers as Plato and Xenophon could ever descend to the 
meanness of depreciating and envying each other's talents and 
success. What would he have said, had he been witness to the 
low competitions, the dirty jealousies, the narrow self-seekings, 
and the envious treachery, visible in the spirit and conduct of 
some who pass for Christian ministers ? " Apply as you may 
think proper. 

Let none of these things move thee, my brother. Be courage- 
ous, and " play the man." A revival conflict shows the living 
minister. " A dead fish," said a good man, " will swim with the 
stream ; but a live one, if it chooses, can swim against it." Ay ! 
it can leap against and surmount a cataract ! — only let your 
eye be single. Beware of imitating the ancient "would-be 
orator," who extolled eloquence to the skies, that he might be 
lifted up thither with her, expecting to be thought eloquent by 
extolling eloquence. Be what you seem. Enter not into 
revivals merely that certain parties may consider you a reviv- 
alist ; but in deed and in truth, for the glory of God, and the 
good of souls that he has redeemed with his own blood. Reviv- 
alists are now popular in England; and preachers who have 



442 REVIVAL MISCELLANIES. 

not that character are at a significant discount. I believe this 
feeling will increase more, and more. May God grant it ! But 
let not us, in the mean time, desire this kind of heavenly sun- 
shine, merely that we may be seen as motes floating in its lustre. 
Make full proof of your ministry, and I care not whether your 
principles compel you, or you drive your principles, if so be they 
are pushed to the uttermost in the conversion of sinners. Your 
difficulties are great; but I say again, — Be of good courage; 
falter not; aim at the hearts of sinners, and "turn the battle to 
the gate." Remember the advice of the honest heathen : Noli 
virtute relict a invidiam pacare. " Let us not leave off doing 
what is fit, to appease the envy of such as would have no such 
thing done." I remember a position in which I was placed, 
seven or eight years ago, when I was advised to shut the chapel 
doors, and make no special efforts for a revival, while a certain 
great man was in town ; and this was the argument : " You may 
expect to preach to empty pews." There were other servants of 
God, however, — a good man and his wife, — who gave me a con- 
trary advice ; I took it, and God gave me the people. I was 
reading, the other day, of one Antigonus, who was on the point of 
engaging in a sea-fight with Ptolemy's armada, when the pilot 
cried out, " How many are they more than we ! " The courage- 
ous king replied, " It is true, if you count their numbers ; but for 
how many do you value me ? " You have God on your side ; 
with him you are safe, though all hell and the world were leagued 
against you. 



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attainment of purity of heart. 

O* These works will be published in the same style and size as the " Counsellors." 







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